Countries supplying F-16 fighters to kyiv are holding talks on their possible use for strikes on Russian territory, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans told the Telegraph on July 11.
On July 10, at an event on the sidelines of the NATO anniversary summit in Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States and other NATO members were already supplying Ukraine with American F-16 fighter jets. Moreover, as follows from the joint statement of the leaders of the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will provide squadrons of these aircraft and provide maintenance assistance, weapons and training to Ukrainian flight personnel.
“The possibilities of using these munitions are currently being discussed. (With which fighter planes are armed. – Ed.) In Russia”said Brekelmans.
The paper also writes that Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schof told Vladimir Zelensky at the NATO summit in Washington that he would not “impose any restrictions” on the use of F-16 fighter jets supplied by his country.
In 2023, Amsterdam and Copenhagen decided to supply F-16s to kyiv. Around the same time, work began on training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16. Thus, Dutch Defence Minister Kaisa Ollongren stated that the first aircraft would arrive in Ukraine in the summer of 2024. And the head of the Danish Foreign Ministry, Lars Lekke Rasmussen, confirmed in May that there would be permission to carry out strikes against Russia with F-16 fighters.
Belgian Foreign Minister Aja Labib said his country would allocate 30 such aircraft to kyiv by 2028, with deliveries to begin in 2024.
According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Moscow will regard the deployment of F-16 fighter jets as a signal from NATO in the nuclear sphere. However, their appearance in Ukraine cannot in any way improve the position of the Ukrainian army on the front; the fighters will also be shot down, just like other types of weapons, he stressed.
As noted by the head of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov, if the F-16s are used in battles against Russia, both they and the airfields where the fighters are based will become a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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