How Ukraine Might Secure a Deal for F-16s in Weeks

NATO may discuss the provision of Western fighter jets to Ukraine at a meeting in June, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said. This suggests that if all goes well, Ukraine could secure a deal for F-16s to assist in its fight against Russia in a matter of weeks.

In an interview with German news magazine Der Spiegel on May 18, Stoltenberg said that at the meeting, defense ministers of NATO member states will likely raise the potential transfer of F-16s that Ukraine has called for throughout Russia’s invasion. The subject will also be raised at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.

The U.K. and the Netherlands have signaled they are prepared to give the American-made planes to Kyiv. However, any transfers must be approved by the Biden administration.

The U.S. has so far declined to authorize the direct shipment of F-16s to Ukraine, but on Friday President Joe Biden told world leaders at the G7 summit that the U.S. supports plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s, according to the Associated Press. Training will be conducted in Europe and will likely start in the coming weeks.

Decisions will be made in the coming months about when and how many fighter jets will be provided and who will be sending them, Biden told world leaders at the summit.

Stoltenberg said, “We constantly discuss the question of whether modern Western fighter jets are needed—both in NATO and with Ukraine. I expect that this topic will also be discussed at the meeting of defense ministers of NATO countries in June.”

He added that the provision of fighter jets to Ukraine would also require ammunition, spare parts, and “round-the-clock” aircraft maintenance.

U.S. officials told CNN that the Biden administration is prepared to authorize the export of F-16s to Ukraine if its allies are willing to send them to the war-torn country.

The U.K. government announced on May 16 that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunk and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte had agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure the fighter planes.

The two leaders “would work to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with air-combat capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets,” a statement said.

“The prime minister reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO and the leaders agreed on the importance of allies providing long-term security assistance to Ukraine.”

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said on May 15 that it is important to “signal to Russia that we as nations have no philosophical or principled objection to supplying Ukraine capabilities that it needs, depending on what is going on in the battlefield.”

“This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology,” Wallace said.

Newsweek has contacted NATO, the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Defense and Russia’s Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

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