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US approves delivery of F-16s to Ukraine via Denmark and Netherlands

2023-08-18 18:36:22, Kosova & Bota CNA

The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend the country from Russian invaders while pilot training is completed, a US official said.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked to be equipped with American F-16 planes to fight the Russian army from the air.

Washington has given official assurances to Denmark and the Netherlands that the United States will expedite approval of the request to send the planes to Ukraine once pilot training is completed, the official said, without being identified.

"We welcome Washington's decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine," said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra.

"Now, we will discuss this issue with our European partners."

Denmark has also said it will discuss the issue.

"The government has said several times that donation is a natural step after training. We are discussing this with close allies and I expect that we will be more concrete very soon", said the Danish Minister of Defense, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen.

An 11-nation coalition is expected to begin training Ukrainian pilots to operate F-16s this month in Denmark.

Acting Minister of Defense in Denmark, Troels Poulsen, said in July that the country expects "results" from the training, in early 2024.

US President Joe Biden has supported the training program for Ukrainian pilots since May.

In addition to the trainings in Denmark, another training center was also planned to be established in Romania.

A day ago, Kiev said that it does not expect to provide the F-16 planes this fall and winter.

US officials have said privately that the F-16s will be able to offer little help to Ukraine in its current counteroffensive, and will not change the course of the war entirely, because of the disputed skies over Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the war a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine.

The West has responded to Russia, hitting the economy of this country with harsh sanctions.

As a result of the war, thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced from their homes./ REL