Belgium to supply F-16 fighters to Ukraine in 2024, earlier than planned - VRT News
Kyiv • UNN
Belgium will supply Ukraine with up to 4 F-16 fighter jets by the end of 2023, earlier than the previously planned delivery date of 2025, with the costs covered by taxes on Russian assets.
Belgium will supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets by the end of this year. This was announced by Prime Minister Alexander De Kroo and Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder. It is noted that the government will not wait until 2025 to deliver the aircraft, as previously planned. This was reported by VRT News , according to UNN .
This is a big step for the defense of Ukraine. ... Our country was already a member of the F-16 coalition, with which it was responsible for the repair of the delivered aircraft and training of Ukrainian pilots. But now our country is joining a limited number of countries that will actually supply the aircraft to Ukraine.
Details
He noted that so far Belgium will send a maximum of 4 planes to Ukraine.
Further deliveries depend on the arrival time of the F-35.
It is not yet clear when the F-16s will be delivered to Ukraine, but according to Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, it will happen "as soon as possible.
We will do our best to deliver the aircraft by the end of the year.
Officials also said that in addition to aircraft, they plan to supply Ukrainians with air defense systems worth more than 200 million euros. De Kroo emphasized that all deliveries of military equipment will be paid for by taxes on Russian assets.
You know that there is a lot of Russian money parked in our country. We use the interest from it to give it to Ukrainians to help them defend themselves against the Russians. So these supplies will not be paid for with Belgian tax money.
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The publication noted that the announced delivery of F-16s to Ukraine came as a surprise. During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Belgium on October 11, 2023, he was promised that the fighter jets would be delivered "only in 2025.
Earlier, Defense Minister Michel Hofmann and General of Material Resources Goetink said that the Belgian Defense Ministry was unable to donate F-16s to Ukraine.
Our country needs the Navy to fulfill its missions.
VRT NWS gained access to detailed data on the current state of the Belgian air fleet and provided it to experts with a long track record.
Our country can certainly give Ukraine an F-16 if it wants to. The delivery announced today confirms this.
Recall
In mid-April, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Kroo statedthat Belgium supports the training of Ukrainian pilots for F-16s and hopes that the first delivery will take place in May, but that Belgium still needs F-16s itself until they are replaced by F-35s.
