NATO leaders and member states have shared new updates on their short and long-term support for Ukraine during this week’s summit.
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday night that the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Romania will provide Ukraine with much-needed long-range air defense systems. On Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during the NATO Public Forum that Denmark and the Netherlands have begun the transfer of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Ukraine is in desperate need of as many air defense systems as possible as Russia continues to use its air dominance to carry out aerial assaults on Ukrainian cities. Leaders have repeatedly asked for air defense systems and interceptors, and they have asked for fighter aircraft since the early moments of the war.
“Those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine can continue to effectively defend itself against the Russian aggression,” Blinken said.
Dutch officials have said they would transfer 24 F-16s to Ukraine, while Denmark is expected to provide another 19. With the agreements made by Belgium and Norway, Ukraine’s F-16 fleet could be about 60 planes once all of them that have been promised are provided. Other countries could choose to provide them as well.
In response to the news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the countries involved, noting, “I anticipate that our air force capability coalition will be strengthened even further through the joining of new participants. F-16s bring just and lasting peace closer, demonstrating that terror must fail everywhere and at any time.”
Zelensky did warn a day earlier that Ukraine really needs over 100, at least, to counter Russia’s fleet of 300 jets.
“The problem with F-16 [transfers] is the number and the dates,” the Ukrainian president said Tuesday evening. “Russia uses 300 jets on the territory of Ukraine, 300 jets. They have more, but they use 300 jets. We have a decision about some 10, 20 [F-16s]. Even if we will have 50, it’s nothing. They have 300. … Because we are defending, we need 128. All these numbers, our partners. So, until the moment when we will have 128 jets, we will not compare with them in the sky. Anyway, it will be difficult.”
U.S. forces have been training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s in Arizona.
The U.S. and Germany also announced Wednesday that the U.S. would begin episodic deployments of long-range fire capabilities in Germany starting in 2026, which both governments said in a joint announcement “will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also announced Wednesday during the NATO public forum that the alliance will establish a NATO command for Ukraine, which he said would “facilitate and ensure the training and delivery of security assistance to Ukraine” and noted that roughly 700 personnel will take over what the U.S. had been doing in leading the coordination effort.
He described this effort as to “institutionalize” a framework for the alliance’s continued support for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said he supports Ukraine’s desire to join NATO in the long term as a way to fend off Russia’s continued aggression, which dates back to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and was escalated in February 2022, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine with the intent to topple the government and take over.
“When the fighting stops, we need to ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities to deter future aggression from Russia, and they need security guarantees,” Stoltenberg said. “And of course, the best and strongest security guarantee will be Article Five. So therefore I believe that the way to ensure it stops is actually NATO membership.”
A senior NATO official, however, told reporters Tuesday that “this is not a conflict that is likely to be over anytime soon, that this is something that’s going to take years of dedicated effort to ensure that Russia does not prevail here.”
The NATO summit in Washington comes just days after Ukraine was hit by a major Russian aerial attack against multiple cities that left dozens of people dead. A Ukrainian cancer hospital was hit in Kyiv, killing multiple people.
“F-16s will also be used to bolster Ukraine’s air defense,” Zelensky said. “I am confident that they will assist us in better protecting Ukrainians from brutal Russian attacks, such as this week’s strike on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv.”
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The senior NATO official warned that Russia could carry out a similarly large barrage against Ukraine this week to juxtapose the war with the summit.
“I think we should … continue to expect to see large strikes like this or other events that are headline-grabbing,” the official explained.