The Netherlands and Denmark have said they will definitely give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine once conditions for the transfer have been met, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited his country.
Rutte said that the Netherlands had 42 F-16s available in all, but it was too early to say whether all of them would be donated.
“Today we can announce that the Netherlands and Denmark commit to the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force, including cooperation with the US and other partners once the conditions for such a transfer have been met,” he said in a joint news conference with Zelensky at a military air base in Eindhoven.
Zelensky, who called the deal a “breakthrough agreement”, said the exact number of aircraft would be discussed “a little later”.
Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday as part of an ongoing push to boost Ukraine’s air defences and is expected to continue to Denmark later in the day. The Danish foreign ministry also confirmed its commitment to delivering F-16s in a statement on Sunday.
The Netherlands, together with Denmark, has in recent months led international efforts to train Ukrainian pilots for F-16s and to ultimately deliver the jets to help counter the air superiority of Russia, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
