The long-awaited American-made fighter was recently spotted flying over the skies of Odessa. The fighter jet gives Ukraine a comparable, some would say superior jet to anything the Russians have. Numbers will be small, however. With just six planes from Denmark, and with sixty more promised from other European nations.
Source: Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- The first delivery of F-16 fighter jets from NATO allies has arrived in Ukraine, in a long-awaited move that may boost the war-torn nation’s ability to repel Russian attacks.
The deadline for the transfer of the US-made warplanes was the end of this month and it has been respected, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke under condition of anonymity. The number of jets is small, they said.
It’s not clear whether Ukrainian pilots, who have trained with their western allies over the past months, will be able to immediately use the warplanes or the process will take longer, the people said.
Even if small at first, the transfer of jets should over time help Kyiv build the capacity to put a dent in Russia’s aerial superiority, which has allowed the Kremlin to decimate the country’s power infrastructure, leading to rolling blackouts.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s defense ministry Diana Davityan declined to comment. Spokespeople for US Department of Defense and the National Security Council also declined to comment.
It took more than a year to get here. President Joe Biden dropped his opposition to sending F-16s to Ukraine in May 2023, after repeated pleas by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO allies to allow their transfer.
Let's not forget Republicans' opposition to literally ANYTHING to do with Ukraine.
