Joe Biden's administration has made it clear to European allies that the United States will allow them to export American-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Source. This was reported by CNN, citing sources.
Earlier, the White House faced pressure from not only European countries that support Ukraine, but also members of the US Congress for refusing to supply Kyiv with the aircraft.
The United States does not intend to send the planes itself, but is not against other countries supplying F-16s to Ukraine, anonymous officials told CNN. However, according to them, there have been no official requests in this regard so far.
The State Department officials, who usually handle the paperwork for approving arms exports, have not yet been approached, the sources said.
Several European countries have U.S.-made F-16s, including the Netherlands, which has expressed a willingness to transfer some of the aircraft to Ukraine.
The US must approve this transfer to a third party because of the aircraft's classified US technology.
Background. Earlier this week, the creation of a "fighter jet coalition" was announced to organize the supply of modern combat aircraft to Ukraine. It will include the UK, the Netherlands, France, and possibly some other European countries.