Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the plan via social media on Friday, the Reuters news agency reported.
Rutte wrote on the X platform: "Today I informed President Zelenskiy of our government's decision to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter aircraft for delivery to Ukraine."
The Dutch prime minister added that the delivery of F-16 was "one of the most important elements of the agreements made on military support for Ukraine."
Ukraine's president said on X: "I spoke with Mark Rutte to thank the Dutch government for its decision to start preparing the initial 18 F-16 jets for their delivery to Ukraine."
In November, the Netherlands sent the first batch of its F-16s to a new training centre for Ukrainian pilots and staff in Romania, the Reuters news agency noted.
Denmark, Norway and Belgium have also announced they will send their US-made F-16 jets to Ukraine, after Washington in August greenlighted delivering them to help Kyiv repel Russia once pilot training is completed, according to news outlets.
Ukraine will very likely receive the first batch of F-16s before the end of 2023, the Institute for the Study of War assessed on Friday night.
The US think tank cited a recent strategy document by the defence ministry of Estonia, which stated that the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium have already committed to donating F-16s to Ukraine "before the end of the year [2023]."
Saturday is day 668 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm)
Source: RBC-Ukraine, ISW, Reuters, Dutch News, Ministry of Defence of Estonia