Denmark has agreed to hand over F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for free, the Danish Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Sunday.
“We agree to transfer F-16 aircrafts to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force in close cooperation with the U.S. and other partners, when the conditions for such a transfer are met,” the statement reads.
The conditions in question include “successfully selected, tested, and trained Ukrainian F-16 personnel as well as necessary authorisations, infrastructure and logistics”.
The number of the aircraft and the timeframe of the deliveries were not specified.
Denmark will supply Ukraine with 19 F-16 fighter jets, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during a briefing.
“You and your people have shown us what real courage is. For that, we owe you support. Since the start of the war, Denmark has been on your side, because your freedom is our freedom. That’s exactly why we’re announcing today that 19 F-16s are going to Ukraine,” she declared.
Earlier today, the Netherlands agreed to hand over 42 F-16 jets to Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte declared that he would not be able to clarify how many F-16s the country would provide Ukraine with. The Netherlands is currently in possession of 42 F-16s and it’s unclear how many of them will be handed over to Ukraine.
On 18 August, the US approved the transfer of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine after Ukrainian pilots complete the training programme. Due to the fact that F-16 fighter jets are produced by the US, other countries need its approval to be able to export them.
Earlier today, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the pilots had already begun their training. He noted that 11 partner countries had joined the “aircraft coalition”. According to Reznikov, the training programme will last at least six months.
