Mette Frederiksen announced the move at a joint news conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Zelensky met with Frederiksen, her Cabinet ministers and Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary at Skrydstrup Air Base in Vojens, southern Denmark, according to news outlets.
The Danish prime minister said her country would donate 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, “hopefully” six around the end of the year, eight more in 2024 and the remaining five in 2025, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Frederiksen stated: “Please take this donation as a token of Denmark’s unwavering support for your country’s fight for freedom.”
Earlier in the day, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte pledged his country would provide Ukraine with F-16 aircraft from its stockpiles, once “the conditions for such a transfer have been met.”
Zelensky, who met with the Dutch prime minister at an air base in Eindhoven, later wrote: “Mark Rutte and I reached an agreement on the number of F-16s to be transferred to Ukraine once our pilots and engineers have completed their training. 42 jets. And this is just the beginning.”
The F-16s will be transferred to Ukraine after its pilots and ground crews have been properly trained, which means the Western fighter jets are expected to be ready to fly combat missions in Ukraine in 2024, The Guardian reported.
Sunday’s announcements came after the United States last week authorised the Netherlands and Denmark to provide Ukraine with F-16 jets, in what was seen as a major boost to Kyiv, the AP reported.
Zelensky said on Sunday that Western fighter jets would help bolster his country’s air defences and aid its counteroffensive against Russia.
“Aircraft can speed up this process,” he said, as quoted by The Guardian.
Ukrainian counteroffensive advances in southeast
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have continued their counteroffensive against Russia on at least two sectors of the front and advanced near the southeastern village of Robotyne, the Institute for the Study of War reported on Sunday.
The US think tank said: “Geolocated footage published on August 19 and 20 shows that Ukrainian forces recently advanced east of Robotyne,” in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
Overall, Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in the direction of the southern port of Melitopol, in the western part of Zaporizhia, and towards the southern port of Berdyansk, through the border area between the eastern Donetsk province and Zaporizhzhia, the ISW reported, citing an update by Ukraine’s General Staff, published on Sunday night.
The ISW also assessed that “Ukrainian strikes against Russian deep rear areas,” such as recent attacks on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which links Russia with the occupied Crime peninsula, “are demonstrably degrading the morale of Russian forces in Ukraine, which could threaten the stability of Russian defenses on multiple critical areas of the front.”
Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Kherson province
Meanwhile, Russian shelling killed two civilians in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Sunday afternoon, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
A woman was killed after Russia struck a residential building in the village of Kozatske; and a man died after Russian forces dropped explosive devices from a drone on a street in the settlement of Novoberyslav, according to regional officials.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Monday is day 544 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, AP, The Guardian, ISW, Ukrainska Pravda