Norway to join Netherlands, Denmark in supplying F-16 fighters to Ukranian Armed Forces

Norway has decided to transfer modern Western F-16 aircraft to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced during a press conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

"Mr. President, taking into account the points of our dialogue, we have made a decision to hand over the Norwegian F-16s. And we are now discussing when and how," the Norwegian prime minister said.

He emphasized that Norway is currently switching to more modern fighter jets, and a few years ago it already handed over a "significant part" of its planes to Romania.

"Now we are allocating two fighter jets immediately for a training mission and we will consider what is left. There are not so many of them, but I hope that we will be able to hand them over to Ukraine," the prime minister stated.

He also announced that Norway will transfer a "certain number" of demining kits to Ukraine.

According to the Norwegian publication NRK, Norway can transfer from five to ten aircraft.

Read also: How the F-16 multi-role fighter jet could boost Ukrainian defense options

On August 20, Zelenskyy visited the Netherlands and Denmark. Both countries undertook to transfer F-16 fighters to Ukraine (42 aircraft will be provided by the Netherlands, 19 by Denmark).

Ukraine should use the F-16 only on its territory – not on the territory of Russia. Such conditions were announced by the Minister of Defense of Denmark. The Armed Forces accept these conditions, said Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat.

On August 24, TV2 reported that Norway will be the third country to provide Ukraine with F-16s. The number is still unknown.