Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever announced that the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Ukraine has been postponed until 2026. He stated this before a meeting with other EU leaders in Brussels, reports France 24, writes UNN.
Belgium expects to deliver F16 fighter jets for combat in Ukraine in 2026
De Wever said that the promised delivery of the jets has been postponed as Belgium awaits the delivery of new F35s to replace the F16s.
He also assured that Belgium will continue to support Ukraine
Today I assured Volodymyr Zelensky that we will continue to support Ukraine. We cannot accept that decisions regarding the future of Ukraine and the security of Europe are made without Ukraine and its European allies
Reminder
As previously reported by UNN, by the end of 2024, Belgium was supposed to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This was stated at that time by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder. It was noted that the government would not wait until 2025 to deliver the aircraft, as previously planned.
In January, Belgium announced that it had postponed the transfer of the first of 30 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine until the end of 2025 due to delays in the delivery of F-35s from the USA. Deliveries will take place gradually over 3-4 years.