White House refuse to comment on delivery of F-16s to Ukraine

The White House has refused to confirm the delivery of the first F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from partners.

National Security Advisor John Kirby was asked  during a briefing if he could confirm media reports about the delivery of the first Western fighter jets to Ukraine.

"You’d have to talk to the Ukrainians. I’m certainly not going to talk about weapons capabilities. I will only add that, to remind, as we have said and said at the NATO Summit, that the process of providing F-16s to Ukraine continues to move forward. We said that they will be operational by the end of the summer. We have no reason to doubt that," he said.

Kyiv has not yet officially confirmed the arrival of the long-awaited F-16s in Ukraine, but Bloomberg reported it on 31 July.

The Times stated that Ukraine received its first batch of F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands, consisting of six aircraft. However, the Netherlands has not yet confirmed the delivery.