Ukraine will likely receive it first shipment of advanced F-16s in the next few days, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call as Kyiv seeks to disrupt Russia’s air superiority over Ukrainian skies amid continued battles on December 23 in the east and south of the country.
“Today, I informed President Zelenskiy of our government’s decision to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter aircraft for delivery to Ukraine,” Rutte said late on December 22 in a post on social media platform X.
“The delivery of F-16s is one of the most important elements of the agreements made on military support for Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy said that “I spoke with Mark Rutte to thank the Dutch government for its decision to start preparing the initial 18 F-16 jets for their delivery to Ukraine.”
www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-awaits-f-16s-kyiv-russia/32744692.html
Here’s the statement
📞: I spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa again this morning. Naturally, we discussed the European Council’s important decision last week to launch accession negotiations with Ukraine. I’m impressed with Ukraine’s progress so far, and the Netherlands stands ready to help Ukraine as…
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) December 22, 2023
AC