Netherlands says it will give F-16 jets to Ukraine "in the near future"

Ruben Brekelmans, Dutch Defence Minister, has stated that F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands will arrive in Ukraine "in the near future".

The official stated in a comment to Ukrinform in The Hague that the F-16s will come shortly and that the Netherlands is working hard to make this happen as soon as possible. However, he did not provide any details. He also did not specify how many fighters will be transferred in the near future, "because this is also valuable information for Russia". According to Brekelmans, all arms transfers should be safe and reliable.

"The argument is not that I don't want to inform the public; rather, I want to inform everyone as much as possible. However, we know that the F-16 is also a target for Russia, and sharing data, such as the exact day and time, will be extremely significant intelligence to the Russian leadership. And we don't want them to be more informed than they are now.

I believe that what Ukrainian pilots are doing now is just fantastic. Dutch pilots typically require many years, sometimes more than five years, to learn the F-16, which is a complex system. Ukrainian pilots now complete it in a year and a half. So this is just fantastic," he said.

Brekelmans’s predecessor, Kajsa Ollongren, said in early July that the Netherlands would soon begin supplying Ukraine with the first of 24 promised F-16 jets.

On 10 July, the leaders of the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands, who head the fighter jet coalition, announced that Ukraine will receive its first F-16s this summer.

According to Bloomberg, Ukraine is expecting to receive six F-16 fighters from its Western partners this summer and a total of up to 20 aircraft by the end of 2024.