News item | 8/21/2023 | 11:33
Ukraine receives F-16s from the Netherlands. Prime Minister Mark Rutte informed President Volodymyr Zelensky of this yesterday. The Ukrainian president landed yesterday at Eindhoven Air Base for a lightning visit to the Netherlands. Rutte and Ministers Kajsa Ollongren (Defence) and Wopke Hoekstra (Foreign Affairs) received him at the military location. Zelensky stayed here for a few hours before leaving the country.
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Rutte did not just call the war on Ukrainian territory their struggle. “It is also our values that are at stake. That feeling is widely shared. It is not for nothing that there is great international support for Ukraine.”
Zelensky was also in the Netherlands last May. At that time it was already reported to him that the Netherlands wanted to train Ukrainian soldiers to deploy F-16s.
Rutte: “But as everyone understands: without the availability of F-16s, training misses every goal. In other words: Training means delivery.”
How many devices are involved and when they will be made available has not been announced. Before the Netherlands will deliver F-16s to Ukraine, a number of preconditions must first be met. For example, the infrastructure at Ukrainian airports must be made suitable. It is also necessary that sufficient Ukrainians are trained to operate with the F-16.
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‘Logical and crucial step’
Not only Rutte again gave a clear signal to Russia that the Netherlands will continue to help Ukraine. That certainly also applied to Ollongren. “Ukraine deserves our support as long as necessary. The fact that pilots from that country will deploy our F-16s in the future is a logical and crucial step. Ukraine is not giving up, neither are we.”
To date (reference date 26 June 2023) The Netherlands provided military support with a value of approximately 1.9 billion euros.