Ukraine has deployed F-16s to fight Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that he used F-16s to counter Russia’s unprecedented airstrikes on Kiev targets.

President Volodymyr Zelensky poses with a pair of Kiev F-16 fighter jets (Photo: AFP).

At a press conference on August 27, Mr. Zelensky said that his country’s F-16 fighters were mobilized to shoot down Russian missiles in the attack on August 26.

“The F-16s showed very good results. We repelled a number of missiles and drones with the F-16s during this major attack. And we are grateful to our partners who provided us with F-16s. Of course, this is not enough, we have only a few aircraft, and we have to train more pilots,” he said.

On August 26, Russia launched 236 UAVs and missiles into Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defense forces claimed to have shot down 102 missiles and 99 attacking drones.

Mr Zelensky’s statement on Tuesday confirmed earlier reports that the first F-16s would be used for air defence purposes rather than attacking Russian ground targets.

NATO countries have previously pledged to provide the Ukrainian military with at least 60 US-made F-16 fighters by the end of this year. In early July, the Dutch government announced that the delivery of the first of a batch of 24 F-16 fighters was imminent.

Last month, Ukraine received its first batch of F-16 fighter jets donated by the West. However, Russia warned that these planes would not be able to turn the situation around and would be shot down.

“F-16s will appear and will be shot down. Of course, these deliveries of fighters will not have any significant impact on the situation on the battlefield. If I remember correctly, we announced a reward for the Russian force that shot down the F-16,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with AFP Ukraine said in May that it needed up to 130 F-16s to ensure air parity with Russia, but Western countries have so far failed to commit to providing Moscow with that number and not all of them will arrive at once.