Denmark to provide Ukraine with first F-16 fighter jets this summer
However, it did not say how many aircraft will be delivered to Ukraine
Copenhagen will provide Kyiv with the first batch of American F-16 fighter jets this summer.
Source. This was reported by Reuters.
According to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the funds for the future delivery of combat aircraft will be taken from a special fund for civilian and military donations. Denmark also announced a new package of military aid to Kyiv worth 1.7 billion kroner ($247.4 million) and called on its allies to increase donations to Ukraine.
This brings the total amount of aid to Kyiv from Copenhagen over the two years of war to 33.3 billion kroner ($3.1 billion).
"It must be emphasised that if they (Ukraine) want to succeed on the battlefield, then more donations are needed now," Frederiksen said. However, she did not say how many aircraft would be donated to Ukraine.
Earlier on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would be able to strike at Russian territory with F-16 fighter jets when they are delivered.
According to him, each of Ukraine's allies will decide on its own whether to hand over the fighter jets to Kyiv or not. However, the Ukrainian army will be able to use all the delivered F-16s in self-defence, which includes attacks on legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.
The day before, CNN reported that the first four Ukrainian pilots will graduate from F-16 training by this summer. They began training in mid-October at the 162nd Fighter Wing in Tucson, Arizona. A total of 12 pilots are being trained in the US, divided into three groups. All of them will be ready to fly F-16s by August. Ukrainian military pilots are also learning to fly fighter jets in the UK, Romania and Denmark.
Background. Analysts believe that an increase in the supply of Western weapons, in particular, will change the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine's favour. For more on this, see Mind's article "Increased Western arms supplies could break the deadlock in Ukraine".
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