Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv to receive lots of F-16 fighter jets as Moscow drone attack interrupts flights

Ukraine is set to receive lots of F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands and Denmark in an indication of “unwavering support” as soon as the pilot training of Ukrainian soldiers has actually been adequately finished, their particular leaders revealed.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will get 42 jets, however the Netherlands and Denmark, in a joint declaration revealing the shipment, did not define numbers.

Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said 19 jets will “hopefully” be sent to Kyiv, of which 6 will show up around the brand-new year, 8 more next year and the staying 5 will be sent in 2025 as he asked Ukraine to “please take this donation as a token of Denmark’s unwavering support for your country’s fight for freedom”.

Danish defence minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said Denmark’s assistance for Ukraine is steadfast and with the contribution of F-16s, the nation is now blazing a trail.

“It makes me happy that Denmark, together with the Netherlands, will contribute F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine‘s fight for freedom against Russia and its senseless aggression,” he said in a statement.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands has 42 of the jets, but said some will be needed for training purposes.

The timeline of dispatching these to Kyiv will depend on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready for the powerful US-made jets.

Mr Zelensky welcomed the ‘’historical” statement and applauded Mr Rutte for making the Netherlands the very first nation to provide the aircrafts. The statement came minutes after the 2 leaders checked 2 grey F-16 jets parked in a garage at a Dutch base in the southern city of Eindhoven.

Ukraine is thinking about utilizing its newly-tested wartime Black Sea export passage for grain deliveries, a senior farming authorities said on Monday.

It follows the very first effective evacuation of a vessel on the path recently.

Russia has actually blockaded Ukrainian ports considering that it attacked its neighbour in Feb. 2022 and threatened to treat all vessels as possible military targets after taking out of a U.N.-backed safe passage deal last month.

In action, Ukraine revealed a “humanitarian corridor” hugging the sea’s western shoreline near Romania and Bulgaria. A Hong Kong-flagged container ship stuck in Odesa port considering that the intrusion took a trip the path recently without being bombarded.

“Only one commercial vessel has passed through so far, it has shown readiness to move by alternative routes,” Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the Agrarian Council, Ukraine’s biggest agribusiness organisation, informed nationwide tv.

“Further, there should be a movement of potentially 7-8 more ships… then perhaps in the future these alternative routes will become a corridor for the movement of ships that are travelling with cargoes of grain and oilseeds,” he said.

The Financial Times said Kyiv was settling a plan with worldwide insurance companies to cover grain ships taking a trip to and from its Black Sea ports, pointing out Ukraine’s deputy economy minister Oleksandr Gryban.

Ukraine is a worldwide significant grain grower and exporter and usually ships countless metric lots of food from its deep-water Black Sea ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv, however has actually needed to count on its Danube river ports after Russia took out of the deal.

To bring in ship owners to Ukrainian ports which have actually come under fire from Russian forces, Marchuk said Ukraine had actually already assigned 20 billion hryvnias ($547 million) for ship insurance coverage.

“Not all ship owners will dare to put their ships in an uncertain environment,” he included.

Watch live as Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Danish parliament on Monday, 21 August, after Denmark and the Netherlands revealed they will provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in what he called a “historic” promise.

Denmark will provide 19 jets, with the very first 6 due to be delivered around New Year, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said.

A more 8 will be sent in 2024 and 5 in 2025.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands has 42 jets however some will be required for training functions.

It is not verified when the Netherlands will send out the airplane.

The scenario in the eastern Ukrainian area of Kharkiv is “difficult” however Ukraine‘s forces are repelling Russian attacks and have re-taken several square kilometres on the eastern front over the past week, a deputy defence minister said on Monday.

The Ukrainian military said last week that Russia was attacking towards Kupiansk, a town in the Kharkiv region.

“The situation in the Kupiansk direction is difficult. The enemy is not leaving plans to move forward, the enemy is pulling up additional forces,” Hanna Maliar told the national television broadcaster.

“We are confident in our defenders, but it is very difficult for them there and the enemy is not advancing there,” she said.

Maliar said that Ukrainian forces were advancing south of Bakhmut, the city occupied by Russian forces in May after a bloody months-long struggle, and had liberated another three square kilometres over the past week.

These reports could not be independently verified at the time.

Maliar said there were no significant changes in the situation in the south, where Ukrainian forces are trying to split Russian forces and reach the Sea of Azov.

“We should not underestimate the enemy,” Maliar said. “We should all be patient and support our armed forces.”

Two Ukrainian drones were reportedly downed on Monday in the Moscow region, briefly disrupting flights at two of the capital’s airports, according to Russian officialds.

Russia‘s defence ministry said it jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Ruzsky district west of the capital and later destroyed another one in the Istrinsky district nearby.

Arrivals and departures from Moscow’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were quickly stopped however later on rebooted.

Ukrainian drone strikes both on border areas and on the Russian capital have actually ended up being significantly typical in recent months, with duplicated strikes on Moscow’s monetary district.

Ukraine usually does not discuss who lags attacks on Russian area, although authorities have actually openly revealed fulfillment over them.

Russia is broadening and reorganising its military structures to handle its losses in essential battling hotspots, according to the UK’s MoD.

“One new formation is highly likely – the 18th Combined Arms Army (18 CAA). The formation is likely to be an amalgamation and uplift of other units currently operating in Kherson Oblast, including 22nd Army Corps, the force which usually constitutes Russia’s garrison in occupied Crimea,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It included that the 18 CAA is “likely to consist mostly of mobilised personnel and to focus on defensive security operations in the south of Ukraine”.

Russia most likely goals to maximize more skilled systems to combat on essential axes, the MoD said.

“There is a realistic possibility that this has led to the recent re-deployment of airborne forces from Kherson to the heavily contested Orikhiv sector,” it included.

Moscow’s Domodedovo airport has actually limited arrivals and departures quickly after a Ukrainian drone was jammed and crashed over the capital area, Russian news companies said.

The action was taken “in order to ensure additional flight safety measures”, TASS and RIA said, pointing out the airport’s press service.

Arrivals and departures from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport were suspended in the early morning.

A Ukrainian drone was jammed over the Moscow area triggering it to crash, Russia’s defence ministry said today.

There were no casualties, the ministry included. Officials suspended arrivals and departures from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport quickly after, regional news companies reported.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov revealed F-16 training had actually started for Ukrainian pilots, however included that it would take a minimum of 6 months and potentially longer to likewise train engineers and mechanics.

After providing a huge increase for Kyiv with the statement of the prepared shipment of lots of F-16s, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said more than 70 Ukrainian military authorities had actually shown up in Denmark for training. Officials from a union of 11 countries have actually said training will happen in Denmark and Romania.

The Netherlands and Denmark have actually led a months-long push to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s and to eventually provide the jets to help counter the air supremacy of Russia, whose forces got into Ukraine in February in 2015.

While Ukraine has said it anticipates numerous lots pilots to be trained, it stays uncertain the number of pilots had actually shown up in Denmark.
Both the Netherlands and Denmark have F-16s available to contribute as their militaries are transitioning to more recent F-35 fighters.