Officials said Ukraine plans to eventually field 60 F-16s, with numerous countries helping to provide pilot training, weapons and logistical support.
Wednesday’s announcement coincided with a NATO summit in Washington this week that has focused on continued aid to Ukraine and questions about the alliance’s future that have begun to emerge ahead of this year’s U.S. presidential election.
A separate White House statement on behalf of Washington and Berlin said the Pentagon would begin rotating deployments of powerful missile systems to Germany in 2026. These “intermittent deployments” will also include hypersonic weapons that officials characterized as having “significantly longer ranges” than any currently in Europe.
The two announcements taken together appear to have been partly designed to attract Russian attention. Anatoly Antonov, Moscow’s ambassador to Washington, said: criticized Western countries supported Ukraine, saying the NATO summit “reaffirmed the aggressive nature of the alliance.”
The Biden administration had resisted providing Ukraine with F-16s until it backed down last year. Kiev said it badly needed the planes to counter Russian use of glide bombs, some of the most damaging weapons in Moscow’s arsenal that have devastated Ukrainian forces along the front line. Ukrainian officials say the Soviet-era weapons are nearly impossible to intercept when fired. SaidThis suggests that the F-16s will enable Ukrainian forces to shoot down bomb-laden aircraft or guide them further away from Ukrainian territory.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gaer Storr said the deployment of F-16s to Ukraine was part of a broader effort to bolster the country’s air defenses after a nasty air attack this week killed at least 37 people and Attack on children’s hospital in Kyiv.
“Without air superiority, we are extremely vulnerable, and in recent weeks and months we have seen that vulnerability due to Ukraine’s lack of aircraft and lack of air defense capabilities begin to change,” Storey said. “The brutality of the recent series of Russian attacks shows that air superiority is absolutely necessary.”
The announcement came after a smaller group of Ukrainian pilots finished training with U.S. advisers at Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona in May and headed off for further training in Europe.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said last week that a dozen Ukrainian pilots were undergoing training in Denmark and the United States, with instruction tailored to aviation and English language skills. Ukrainian officials have complained that the pace gives Russia ample time to attack civilian infrastructure unimpeded.
Dan Lamothe and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
