The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands for the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the news agency Reuters reported citing a US official who apparently confirmed it on Thursday (August 17).
According to the report, it will happen as soon as pilot training is completed.
The US will accelerate clearance of F-16 transfer requests for the war-torn nation after the pilots are trained, Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured his Danish and Dutch counterparts in letters seen by the news agency.
Denmark and the Netherlands had recently asked for those assurances. The US must approve the transfer of military jets from its allies to Ukraine.
In the letter, Blinken told the officials: “I am writing to express the United States’ full support for both the transfer of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and for the training of Ukrainian pilots by qualified F-16 instructors.”
Blinken said, “It remains critical that Ukraine is able to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression and violation of its sovereignty.”
He said the approval of the requests would allow Ukraine to take “full advantage of its new capabilities as soon as the first set of pilots complete their training.”
Russia calls it a ‘nuclear’ threat
During the course of the war, Ukraine has actively sought US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. But Russia says that the supply of these advanced jets will lead to acceleration.
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow will regard Western F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine as a “nuclear” threat because of their capacity to carry atomic weapons.
Russian foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as saying, “We will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere.”
The Netherlands and Denmark plan to train Ukrainian pilots on using US-made aircraft as part of an 11-nation coalition. Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen had earlier said that the training would start in his country in August.
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