The United States has agreed to send F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine once pilot training is completed, a US official said.
Ukraine aggressively sought these American-made fighters to help it counter Russian air superiority.
On Thursday, the official said Washington had given official assurances to Denmark and the Netherlands that the United States would expedite approval of requests to transfer F-16s to Ukraine when the pilots receive training.
“We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wupke Hoekstra said via the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
“Now, we will discuss the matter further with our European partners,” he added.
Denmark also said it would now consider supplying the fighters to Kiev.
“The government has said many times that a donation is the natural next step after training. We are discussing this with close allies, and I expect that we will soon be able to become more practical in this regard,” Danish Defense Minister Jakob Elliman Jensen told the Ritsaau news agency on Friday. .
An alliance of 11 countries is scheduled to start training Ukrainian pilots to operate the F-16 fighters this month in Denmark.
Denmark and the Netherlands, two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), are leading the international effort to train Ukrainian pilots as well as support and maintenance crews and eventually enable Ukraine to acquire F-16 fighter jets for use in the current crisis.
#America #announces #decision #providing #Ukraine #fighter #jets