The Netherlands could become the first country to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

This was announced by adviser to the Minister of defense of Ukraine Yuriy Sak, writes Politico.

According to a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the country currently uses 24 F-16 fighter jets, which are "suitable for operational deployment" and "will remain in use until mid-2024."

"After that, they will be available for another purpose, for example, for sale," said a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

It is also known that the Netherlands has an additional 18 F-16 fighter jets, "which are no longer used" and "may receive another purpose." Twelve of them were originally planned to be transferred to a private company, but the transfer was postponed.

Such slow decision-making is due to both political and technical considerations. Few countries have extra F-16s, and modern technology requires serious training and logistics.

We will remind, the Netherlands plans to soon begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters. This was announced by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra. He has not yet named the date and exact timing of the start of the exercise. The minister said he would not "indicate the day, week or month" of the start of training of Ukrainian soldiers, so as not to disrupt cooperation with premature statements.

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