The first delivery of F-16 fighter jets from Nato allies has arrived in Ukraine, in a long-awaited move that may boost the war-torn nation’s ability to repel Russian attacks.
Denmark and the Netherlands are supplying the planes. Belgium and Norway have also promised to deliver jets.
The deadline for the transfer of the US-made warplanes was the end of this month and it has been respected, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke under the condition of anonymity. The number of jets is small, they said.
It is not clear if Ukrainian pilots, who have trained with western allies over the past number months, will be able to immediately use the warplanes, the people said.
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Even if small at first, the transfer of jets should, over time, help Kyiv build the capacity to put a dent in Russia’s aerial superiority, which has allowed the Kremlin to decimate the country’s power infrastructure, leading to rolling blackouts.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s ministry for defence, Diana Davityan, declined to comment. Spokespeople for the US department of defence and national security council also declined to comment.
US president Joe Biden dropped his opposition to sending F-16s to Ukraine in May 2023, after repeated pleas by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Nato allies to allow their transfer.
That came alongside intense debate as to whether F-16s would give Ukraine any decisive advantage. Veteran pilots told Bloomberg news agency last May that the jets would not be the game-changer Ukraine claims.
The move has been hampered by delays, questions around spare parts and a language barrier between Ukrainian pilots and their foreign trainers. Planners have also worried that the country does not have enough runways – and those it does have are vulnerable to Russian attacks.
So far, Ukrainian pilots have trained with F-16s abroad, including in the US. In the meantime, the battlefield has changed, with both sides increasingly relying on cheap drones and Russia bolstering its air defences.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s top national security adviser, has said the F-16s are expected to defend front-line forces in the short term and help retake territory “down the road”. – Bloomberg