Ukrainian president confirms receiving 1st batch of F-16s

ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday confirmed receiving the first batch of F-16 fighter jets during a ceremony marking the country's Air Force Day in an undisclosed location.

“We have held hundreds of meetings and negotiations to strengthen the capabilities of our aviation, air defense, and Defense Forces. We often heard the word ‘impossible’ in response, but we made possible what was our ambition, our defense need, and now – it is a reality in our sky. F-16s in Ukraine. We ensured this,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the ceremony, which was shared on X.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine has made significant progress in transitioning its Air Force to the Western standard of combat aviation.

The country has been discussing with its partners the need to "close the Ukrainian sky from Russian missiles and aircraft," he added.

“I am proud of all our guys who are skillfully mastering these aircraft and have already started using them for our country,” the president said, thanking all of Ukraine’s partners for their support, particularly Denmark, the Netherlands, and the US with in terms of F-16s.

In the statement, however, he did not specify how many F-16s were delivered to Ukraine in the first batch.

Ukraine has been urging its international partners for months to provide Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets and air defense systems as soon as possible so that the country's troops can enhance their capability to repel Russian air attacks.

In October 2023, Denmark announced that it would co-lead an international air force coalition, together with the Netherlands and the US, to support Ukraine in “creating a complete F-16 fighter aircraft capacity."

The announcement came after the Netherlands and Denmark committed to give F-16 jets to Ukraine in August 2023.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​