Yesterday, the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands announced that it has completed the transfer of the 24 F-16 fighter jets pledged to the Ukrainian Air Force, without revealing further details regarding the method or location of the delivery to Kyiv, citing reasonable security concerns. The news confirms what was stated the day before by Minister Ruben Brekelmans, who had revealed in interviews with local media that the final details were being refined to send the last U.S.-made aircraft, which departed from Volkel Air Base.

The arrival of the aircraft in Ukraine is of vital importance for the defense of its airspace, especially considering the increased scale of recent Russian drone and missile attacks, with a Ukrainian network already considerably strained. In particular, while the Dutch official was revealing the dispatch of the last fighters to Kyiv (with a prior stop in Belgium), Russia launched a major attack with more than 250 drones and a dozen ballistic missiles, which, according to Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Inhat, was one of the largest since the beginning of the war, illustrating the previously mentioned point.

In this regard, the official statement from the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands stated: “Due to the daily Russian airstrikes, the F-16s are of vital importance to Ukraine. They allow it to keep Russian aggression at bay — also for us (…) The way in which the aircraft were delivered and deployed made a great impression. In a short time, the Ukrainian Air Force had to make a joint transition to the F-16. That takes years in peacetime. Now it has been achieved in record time.”

It should be recalled at this point that the confirmation of the shipment of the first Dutch F-16 fighters took place in October 2024, while at the same time investments of more than 400 million euros were announced to boost the production of aerial and naval drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Already in February of the current year, it was also reported that another batch of aircraft from the Royal Netherlands Air Force was in the hands of Ukrainian pilots; in this case, coinciding with the arrival of the first Mirage 2000 fighters pledged by France.

On another note, it is useful to recall that Ukraine hopes to have not only the 24 aircraft delivered by the Netherlands, but is aiming to assemble a fleet of 85 F-16 fighters in total from various European allies. Thus, in addition to the aforementioned units, another 30 pledged by Belgium, 19 by Denmark, and another 12 from Norway must be added. In turn, the program has the support of countries such as the United Kingdom, Romania, and the U.S. to carry out pilot training; in the latter case, also for the acquisition of parts and logistical support.

*Image credits: Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands

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