F-16s will be in Ukraine in short term - Dutch Defense Ministry
F-16 fighter jet (photo: Getty Images)
At present, neither the Netherlands nor Kyiv plans to disclose when the F-16s will arrive in Ukraine, says Minister of Defense of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans.
"We have discussed all the technical conditions necessary for these F-16s to be able to fly here, and important steps are being taken in this direction," Brekelmans said.
However, he said that he did not want to name a specific date for the delivery of the fighter jets.
"Ukraine does not want this either. We do not want to make Putin wiser than he already is," Brekelmans said.
However, the minister emphasized that "in the short term" the planes will be delivered.
F-16s for Ukraine
Yesterday, it was reported that during a telephone briefing, a senior US administration official said that the United States had made "significant progress" in training Ukrainian pilots to operate F-16s, and therefore, according to him, new announcements on this matter should be expected next week.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intrigued with the statement that the United States had taken another step to strengthen Ukraine's air defense.
The Netherlands also authorized the export of 24 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine at the beginning of the month.
