Ukraine receives first F-16 fighter jets to bolster defences against Russia, a U.S. official tells AP

U.S. made F-16 fighter jets fly in the sky over Poland's capital as they take part in a massive military parade to celebrate the Polish Army Day, in Warsaw, Poland, Aug. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

Ukraine has received the first F-16 fighter jets that it has sought for months to fight back against an onslaught of Russian missile strikes, a U.S. official confirmed to the Associated Press.

Ukraine has been pushing its Western allies for F-16s for Ukraine for months, saying they were critically needed to fight back against the onslaught of missiles Russia has fired against it. The F-16 is specialized in suppressing enemy air defenses. The West has hesitantly moved toward providing the jets, after previous concerns that arming Ukraine with advanced weaponry would further escalate the war with Russia.

The U.S. has also been training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the jets and has already graduated the first group of pilots on its operation.

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During his visit to Washington earlier this month for the NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed NATO allies to remove all limitations on how Western-provided weapons are used, specifically allowing Ukraine to fire Western-provided weapons against an expanded set of Russian targets.

It’s not clear how many jets were provided in the first tranche or which nations provided them. The Ukrainian government has not confirmed receipt of the jets.

U.S. President Joe Biden authorized sending the U.S.-built warplanes to Ukraine in August 2023. That came after months of pressure from Kyiv and internal debate in the U.S. administration where officials feared the move could escalate tensions with the Kremlin.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway — all NATO members — have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 planes. That number is dwarfed by the Russian jet fighter fleet, which is estimated to be around 10 times larger.

Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralize Russian air power, Ukrainian officials say. F-16s can fly up to twice the speed of sound and have a maximum range of more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometres).

The arrival of the jets was first reported by Bloomberg.

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Andrew Meldrum in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this story.