Two F-16 during a demo flight at the 86th Air Base in Borcea, Romania, 13 November 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE / Robert Ghement
Six F-16 fighter jets arrived in Ukraine this week as Kyiv finally received the first batch of the state-of-the-art US-made aircraft it has been waiting for since their transfer was agreed with Ukraine’s Western partners last year, The Times reported on Wednesday.
Citing an anonymous source close to the matter, The Times said the first six jets had been provided by the Netherlands, with more due to follow from Denmark shortly.
Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren had previously informed the country’s parliament in a letter dated 1 July that the delivery of the aircraft would “take place soon”.
The Times’ confirmation of the jets’ arrival followed an initial report by Bloomberg earlier on Wednesday, which also cited anonymous sources saying that a “small” number of the jets had arrived in Ukraine in keeping with an agreement for the first batch of aircraft to be delivered by the end of July.
As of Thursday morning, neither Kyiv nor the Netherlands had commented on the aircraft’s reported arrival in Ukraine.
US National Security Advisor John Kirby also refused to comment on the delivery when questioned at a White House press briefing, saying only that the process of transferring the F-16s to Kyiv “continues to move forward”.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis did appear to confirm the transfer on X, however, writing on Wednesday that the arrival of the jets in Ukraine, once thought to be “impossible”, actually “turned out to be totally possible”.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have collectively pledged to provide Kyiv with at least 80 F-16s, though this number remains below the 130 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in May the country needed to achieve aerial “parity” with Russia.
While the number of F-16s Ukraine is to receive is not expected to turn the tide of the war, the aircraft will nevertheless offer a significant boost to Kyiv’s air defence capabilities, with Ukrainian Navy Commander Oleksiy Neizhpapa telling Reuters that the jets would help Ukraine challenge Russia’s “full dominance” in the skies over the Black Sea.
