Ukraine has received the first F-16 fighter jets it has needed in months to defend itself against a barrage of Russian missile attacks, a US official confirmed to the Associated Press.
A Ukrainian MP also confirmed that Ukraine had received a small number of F-16 fighter jets. The two politicians spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment publicly on the issue.
Ukraine has been pressing its Western allies for months to supply the country with F-16 fighter jets, claiming they are urgently needed to fend off Russia’s missile attack. The F-16 is specialized in suppressing enemy air defenses. The West has been reluctant to supply the jets after earlier concerns that arming Ukraine with modern weapons would further escalate the war with Russia.
The US is also training Ukrainian pilots to fly the jets and has already trained the first group of pilots for their deployment.
During his visit to Washington for the NATO summit earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO allies to lift all restrictions on the use of Western weapons, in particular allowing Ukraine to fire Western-supplied weapons at an expanded range of Russian targets.
It is unclear how many jets were delivered in the first tranche and which countries they came from. The Ukrainian government has not confirmed receipt of the jets.
US President Joe Biden approved the deployment of US fighter jets to Ukraine in August 2023. He had previously exerted pressure from Kyiv for months and internal debates within the US government broke out, with officials fearing the move could escalate tensions with the Kremlin.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway – all NATO members – have pledged to supply Ukraine with more than 60 aircraft, but this number is far dwarfed by the Russian fighter fleet, which is estimated to be ten times larger.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralize Russian air power. F-16 jets can fly up to twice the speed of sound and have a range of over 3,200 kilometers.
Bloomberg was the first to report on the arrival of the jets.
—-
Andrew Meldrum and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this story.
Tara Copp, The Associated Press
