Norway to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine: Report

LONDON

Norway has decided to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the Norwegian government did not immediately respond to the broadcaster’s request for comment and at this stage, it is unclear how many jets Norway would provide.

This comes after Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s official visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Store at the time announced donations of anti-aircraft missiles and other equipment but made no statements regarding F-16s.

Norway became the third NATO country after the Netherlands and Denmark to provide F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced last week that Denmark will deliver 19 jets in total with the initial six due to be delivered by the end of this year.

The Netherlands currently has 42 F-16s, however, it has yet to decide if it is going to donate all of them.

Zelenskyy called the F16 donation by Denmark and Netherlands a "breakthrough agreement" that would help Kyiv’s counter-offensive against Russian forces.

However, Moscow warned that supplying jets to Ukraine would lead to an escalation of the conflict.