Russian superiority over Ukraine skies to end? US clears all decks for sending F-16 fighters from Netherlands, Denmark

In what could only add to Russia’s troubled war efforts in Ukraine, the United States has approved sending state-of-the-art F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands, Reuters reported. The US assured the transfers will go through as soon as pilot training was completed. “We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on messaging platform X, formerly Twitter. “Many thanks to Secretary Antony Blinken for the good and swift cooperation. Now, we will further discuss the subject with our European partners,” he added.

Hoekstra also called the decision as marking a “major milestone for Ukraine to defend its people and its country”. Ukraine has been actively seeking the US-made F-16 fighters to counter Russian air dominance. The Reuters report also said that Washington has given Denmark and the Netherlands official assurances that America will expedite approval of transfer requests for F-16s to go to Ukraine when the pilots are trained. Denmark and the Netherlands had recently asked for those assurances. The US must approve the transfer of the military jets from its allies to Ukraine, the report said.

A coalition of 11 countries was due to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighter jets this month in Denmark. Denmark’s acting Defense Minister Troels Poulsen said in July that the country hoped to see “results” from the training in early 2024. NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands have been leading international efforts to train pilots as well as support staff, maintain aircraft and ultimately enable Ukraine to obtain F-16s for use in its war with Russia.