Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise landing in the Netherlands on Sunday to take home what he described as the "most important deal" of the Russian war: the supply of F-16 fighter jets to prepare Ukraine for " the winter" and for the counter-offensive because, he warned, Kyiv "will not surrender".
Zelenski arrived in the morning at the air base in Eindhoven, where he was received by a delegation of the Interim Government of the Netherlands, led by the liberal Mark Rutte, who accompanied him on a tour of the military base and showed him several aircraft F -16 as the ones he promised to deliver to him "as soon as possible".
"In May, the Netherlands announced that they would train Ukrainian military personnel for the deployment of F-16 aircraft. Today we can announce that the Netherlands and Denmark are committed to transferring these F-16s to Ukraine as soon as the necessary conditions are met," said Rutte.
The Prime Minister considered that "this is the next step" in Dutch support for Ukraine, "a long-term step that sends a clear signal: we will continue to support Ukraine, with whatever is necessary and for as long as necessary , in the military, humanitarian and reconstruction efforts".
Zelenski had already made it clear when he landed that "among the key issues" of the trip was the delivery of F-16s. "It was the first time I heard the most important agreement and that is that, in addition to the United States, the Netherlands is the first country that agreed to deliver F-16s to Ukraine after the training," added Zelenski .
The Ukrainian leader spoke of "a new step to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses" and thanked the Netherlands for "historic" support, because "these fighter jets will be deployed to keep Russian terrorists away from the cities and the peoples of Ukraine".
Rutte pointed out that these planes "will not immediately help the efforts (in the war), but are part of the long-term commitment" of the Netherlands with Kyiv. Indeed, it will be some time before the fighters are ready for use in Ukraine: the pilots will first have to go through extensive training, followed by military training in Denmark. And Ukraine will have to establish the necessary infrastructure for the "safe landing and take-off of these planes, because they are very sensitive".
There is no exact date, "they will not be delivered next month, that is impossible, but it will not take long", said Rutte, who is not yet clear how many fighters the Netherlands will be able to do without, nor does he know how much work and time it will cost to have them ready.
"These F-16s will give new motivation and energy to our soldiers and civilians," celebrated Zelenski, who had been pressuring NATO countries for months to give him these fighters.
The Ukrainian leader assured that Kyiv "is making progress" and stressed that "it must not be forgotten that (Ukraine) is not fighting anyone, it is fighting the Russian Federation, which yesterday, and a year ago, what it wanted was destroy us, conquer us, and they have failed, and now we are talking about the counter-offensive".
"I know - concluded Zelenski - we would like everything to go faster (...), but we are talking about air defenses, we have winter ahead of us, and we know more than anyone what a winter without electricity And this is the complexity of the matter. But we will not give up, this is the great news".
