The Netherlands Working with Other European Countries to Provide F-16s to Ukraine

This article was last updated on May 4, 2023

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Netherlands Collaborating with Three Other Countries to Supply Ukraine with F-16 Jets

The Netherlands is working hard with three other European countries to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. However, there are no concrete commitments yet, as it turned out today at the joint press conference of Ukrainian President Zelensky, Prime Minister Rutte and Belgian Prime Minister De Croo in the Catshuis in The Hague. “There are no taboos and we are working intensively on it,” said Rutte. “But we’re not there yet.” The other three countries are Belgium, the United Kingdom and Denmark.

Ammunition

Ukraine asks for some time for Western warplanes in the fight against neighboring Russia. The Netherlands has so far among other combat vehicles, air defense systems, ammunition and weapons such as howitzers and Leopard tanks.

But sending F-16 aircraft is particularly sensitive, because there are fears of a further escalation of the conflict between the two countries.

Read it here live blog about Zelensky’s visit to the Netherlands.

Prime Minister Rutte says that sending weapons is always “sensitive” and emphasizes that Ukraine already has howitzers and Leopard tanks. “It takes time to make a decision, but we are working hard on it.”

Training

President Zelensky said at the press conference that he thinks his country will get the planes it wants. “We are getting positive messages,” said the president. He also hopes that the training of Ukrainian pilots can start soon.

At the press conference, both De Croo and Rutte emphasized that the Netherlands and Belgium will continue to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. De Croo said that Belgium will soon come up with a new military support package, but did not want to say what that would look like.