Kiev. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that his country may receive F-16 fighter jets in the first six months of 2024. “I think it will happen in the first six months of next year”, the Interfax-Ukraine news committee said on Thursday, quoting him.
He said that the delivery of F-16 jets will take place after the proper infrastructure is arranged and the Ukrainian pilots are trained. According to Ukrainian military spokesman Yuriy Ignat last week, Ukrainian pilots informed that in a few weeks they will start flying with trainers in real F-16 jets.
The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium have pledged to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to upgrade its fighter jets amid the conflict with Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is going to permanently receive ATCMS long-range missiles from the US. The government news committee Ukrainform said this on Thursday, referring to Foreign Minister Kuleba
Kuleba said that the contract for the supply of ATACMS to Ukraine was signed between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Joe Biden last month.
“We appreciate the US for completing the agreement and strengthening our strike capability,” Minister Kuleba said without specifying the number of missiles already received.
ATACMS is a strategic ballistic missile manufactured by the American defense company Lockheed. It is said that its range is about 300 kilometers