Ukraine has long pleaded for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge
The jets will be crucial in the long term as Kyiv faces down Russia. Pic/AP
The US has given its approval for the Netherlands to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, the Dutch defense minister said Friday, in a major gain for Kyiv even though the fighter jets won’t have an immediate impact on the almost 18-month war.
“I welcome the US decision to clear the way for delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine. It allows us to follow through on the training of Ukrainian pilots,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We remain in close contact with European partners to decide on the next steps.”
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Ukraine has long pleaded for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge. It recently launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s forces without air cover, placing its troops at the mercy of Russian aviation and artillery. Apart from delivering the warplanes, Ukraine’s allies also need to train its pilots. Washington says the F-16s, like the advanced US Abrams tanks, will be crucial in the long term as Kyiv faces down Russia.
The Netherlands is part of a Western coalition that also includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom that in July pledged to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s.
Drone shot down over Moscow
Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over central Moscow early on Friday and some fragments fell on an exposition center, officials said. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drone was shot down around 4 am and there were no injuries or fire caused by the fragments. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some of the fragments fell on the grounds of the Expocentre, an exhibition complex adjacent to the Moscow City commercial and office complex that was hit twice by drones in the past month. The area is about 4 km west of the Kremlin.
Russia fines Google for ‘false’ videos on conflict in Ukraine
A Russian court on Thursday imposed $32,000 fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine. The move by a magistrate’s court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia. The court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the 18-month war.
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