said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the NATO Summit. He also emphasized that the NATO allies will strengthen their cooperation in supporting Ukraine’s defense.
“And we are ready to agree on new financial assistance to Ukraine,” added the head of the US Defense Department.
At the same time, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian military needs at least 128 F-16 fighters to match the Russian Federation’s air forces.
“Russia uses 300 planes against Ukraine every day, while we have an agreement for about 10-20 F16s. Even if we have 50 jets, it’s still nothing that will allow us to defend our airspace, and we have informed our partners about this. Until we have 128 planes, we cannot match the Russians in the sky. It will be difficult,” the president noted.
On July 1, the Netherlands confirmed delivery of the first of the 24 promised F-16s, which will arrive in Ukraine soon, and Norway will hand over six aircraft.