President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine has received its first US-made F-16 fighter jets.
“F-16s in Ukraine. We did it,” President Zelensky said at a ceremony at an unnamed air base – although he added that more were needed.
The Ukrainian leader thanked his allies for what they had been reluctant to provide.
The arrival of these jets marks a major milestone in boosting the capabilities of Ukraine’s air force, which has relied heavily on old Soviet-era jets.
More F-16s are expected in the coming months, although Mr Zelensky admitted that Ukraine does not yet have enough trained pilots to fly them all.
He did not specify how many planes had arrived in Ukraine — or whether they had all been sent from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, countries he specifically thanked.
Some 65 F-16s have been pledged by NATO countries since US President Joe Biden first authorized European allies to send them to Ukraine in August 2023.
The F-16 was introduced in 1978. Many Western militaries are in the process of phasing out these aging fighters, replacing them with the US-made F-35, introduced in 2015.
Britain does not have any F-16s in its air force, although it is offering long-range Storm Shadow missiles that can be mounted on jets.
Ukraine’s F-16s will operate alongside a limited number of Western-supplied surface-to-air missile systems such as Patriots and Nasams already on the ground.
With the ability to carry missiles, bombs and rockets, the F-16 would theoretically allow the air force to carry out more strikes deep into occupied territory, and possibly against targets near the border inside Russia.
They can also help protect against Russian glide bomb – Dumb ammunition equipped with a pop-out wing and guidance module for long-range precision strike capabilities, similar to the US JDAM ammunition.
In March alone, about 3,000 bombs were dropped, mainly from Su-34 fighter-bombers.
If Ukraine can protect its F-16s on the ground, the hope is that they can play a key role in pushing back the Russian aircraft to the point where they can no longer attack Ukrainian ground forces with glide bombs.
Kyiv has suggested that it could keep some F-16s at foreign military bases, but that proposal has prompted President Vladimir Putin to warn that any base in the West hosting Ukrainian jets would be a legitimate Russian military target.
Experts also said the fighters could provide much-needed air support to Ukrainian ground forces, who have faced repeated attacks in recent months, particularly in the eastern Donbas region.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Western-made F-16s flying to Ukraine would be “shot down.”
“But of course, these transfers will not have any significant impact on the course of events on the front,” he added.
