Denmark and the Netherlands start delivering F-16’s to Ukraine

The first US-made F-16 fighter jets will arrive in Ukraine in the coming month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday.

The batch will include five aircraft, she announced at a joint press conference with the leaders of other Nordic nations and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Stockholm.

Copenhagen is a member of the coalition of Kiev’s Western backers that promised to procure US-designed F-16’s for junta in Kiev and train its pilots last year.

Denmark vowed to provide 19 jets of this type out of a total of some 40 aircraft pledged by the coalition. Another 24 older F-16 versions should come from the Netherlands. But still these jets are capable of carrying nuclear bombs to their targets.

The first five planes from Denmark will be in the air in the coming month from now, Frederiksen said, answering a question about speeding up deliveries of Western arms and ammunition that could prevent Kiev from losing the conflict.

The Danish prime minister also repeatedly called on Western nations to donate ammunition and air defense systems to Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers are fighting at the moment and it is not going into the right direction, she said, referring to the ongoing Russian advance in the Donbass and Kharkov Region. The main reason for the losses on the Ukrainian side is the lack of air defenses.

Frederiksen called the Ukraine conflict the top priority of the EU and NATO and accused Moscow of launching hybrid attacks and operations on the NATO soil, which she called extremely concerning.

In March, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that Denmark would be the first nation to deliver the F-16’s and would do it at some point this summer.

The Netherlands was to follow suit and provide Ukraine with their batch of fighter jets in the second half of the year, the minister said at that time.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Evlash stated that Kiev could get the jets as early as after Easter, which was on May 5, 2024.

Kiev has long sought to acquire the US-made jets, touting them as a means to greatly improve both its defensive and offensive capabilities.

Some senior Ukrainian military officials believe that it might be too late for such deliveries, however. The jets may no longer be relevant since Russia has already developed countermeasures against them.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that continued Western arms supplies to Kiev would only prolong the conflict but would not change its ultimate outcome.

RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2024.