F-16 fighter jets finally fly in Ukraine in major boost for Kyiv

The Telegraph:  Ukraine has flown its first combat missions with an F-16 after the American-made fighter jets’ long-awaited arrival.

The Telegraph understands the modern warplanes have only been used in an “air defence” capacity so far.

A Ukrainian air force official did not deny this.

A report by the Bloomberg news wire first revealed that a small, but unspecified, number of F-16s had been delivered to Kyiv.

Soon after, a pixelated picture purporting to be an F-16 in the skies above Ukraine was shared on social media and by Ukrainian media outlets.

Kyiv has not officially confirmed receipt of the jets.

Ukraine is expecting to receive 79 F-16s from Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.

An international coalition to support the deliveries and training of Ukrainian pilots – which also includes the US and UK – had pledged to have the first jets flying by the end of July.

The process to upgrade Kyiv’s ageing Soviet warplanes was given the go ahead in July last year, when Joe Biden signed off on the donations of F-16s.

The much-vaunted arrival of the jets will be met by significant fanfare given their potential role in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.

Oleksii Neizhpapa, the commander of Ukraine’s navy, said the jets would help challenge Russia’s “full dominance” of the skies over the Black Sea.

But Western aviation experts have cautioned against the warplanes being a war-winning silver bullet for the Ukrainians.

A report last week by the Washington Post said only six Ukrainian pilots had qualified to fly the F-16, meaning only a limited number of sorties could be flown each day.

There are also expectations that the jets will be limited to an air-defence role because of the threat posed by Russian surface-to-air missile systems closer to the front lines.

News of the F-16s’ arrivals came after Russia launched one of its largest drone barrages against Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian forces intercepted 89 drones and one missile in the long-range raid that lasted for more than seven hours.

Most of the Russian munitions were aimed at Kyiv, with Serhii Popko, the capital’s administrative chief, describing it as “one of the most massive drone attacks on Ukraine during the entire war”.

Authorities said none of the drones reached their final targets, but debris from the interceptions did damage 13 hours in the wider Kyiv region.

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky conceded on Wednesday that the US elections, which Donald Trump is favourite to win, poses a “challenge” to Ukraine.

Washington is Kyiv’s chief military backer, donating tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons.