The first six reaching Ukraine before the end of 2023
Copenhagen is ready to supply 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, with the first six reaching Ukraine before the end of this year, the Danish defense ministry said on Sunday.
“Denmark will donate 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” the Danish defense ministry said, adding that along with the Netherlands, Denmark is heading the international training coalition on F-16 combat aircraft. According to the Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, this decision is supported by the majority of Danish parliamentary parties.
The ministry noted however that the transfer of the F-16 jets requires a permission from the United States. It also said that F-16 aircraft supplies to Ukraine will proceed gradually not to impair Denmark’s plans to transfer to F-35 fighter jets. It is planned to finance F-16 transfer from the Ukrainian fund.
According to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark hopes to supply six F-16 jets to Ukraine by New Year. Apart from that, in her words, eight fighter jets will be supplied in 2024, and five more – in 2025. She also said that 70 Ukrainian pilots are being trained to operate F-16 jets in Denmark,
Denmark has around 30 F-16 fighter jets, which are supposed to be substituted with F-35s.
It was announced in March that the Danish government had reached an agreement with the parliamentary parties on the establishment of a Ukrainian fund of seven billion Danish krones (more than one billion US dollars) in 2023. A sum of 5.4 billion krones (778 million US dollars) are supposed to be spent on military support and 1.2 billion krones (173 million US dollars) – on urgent humanitarian assistance and long-term recovery. It was agreed in June to increase the fund-sponsored military support for Ukraine by 21.9 billion krones (3.1 billion US dollars) in 2023-2028. Apart from that, Denmark will allocate an extra of 7.5 billion krones (1.1 billion US dollars) in 2023; 10.4 billion krones (1.52 billion US dollars) in 2024, and one billion krones (150 million US dollars) a year in 2025-2028.
Source: Tass
