Ukraine will be authorized to use F-16 planes to be handed over by Denmark, but only over its own territory, Danish Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said.
“We donate weapons under the condition that they are used to drive the enemy out of the territory of Ukraine. And no further than that,” Copenhagen’s defense chief said, according to the Ritzau news agency. “Those are the conditions, whether it’s tanks, fighter planes or something else. It is a signal that Ukraine will surely get.”
Danish Conservative Party Chairman Soeren Pape Poulsen also underscored that the planes must not operate beyond Ukraine.
“It is important that they will be used for self-defense in Ukraine. The idea is so that the planes are not used for an attack on Russia,” he noted.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen hopes that Ukraine will receive more planes from other countries.
“We are the first country that made a concrete F-16 donation, and I hope that other countries will follow us,” she noted.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced a “breakthrough agreement” with the Netherlands regarding the transfer of 42 F-16 fighter jets to Kiev. Denmark also stated its readiness to hand over 19 F-16 planes, with the first six scheduled to arrive before the end of this year. Denmark’s air force currently has about 30 such planes, which will be decommissioned when the country switches to the more modern F-35. The Dutch air force has 42 such planes.
Denmark and the Netherlands have already announced programs for training Ukrainian pilots, with assistance from nine more countries. In July, then-Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stated that the training will begin in August and will take at least six months to complete.
