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US Approves Sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands

Netherlands' Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
Netherlands' Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
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US Approves Sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands

Netherlands' Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
Netherlands' Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russian invaders as soon as pilot training is completed, a US official said on Thursday.
Ukraine has actively sought the US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority, Reuters said.
Washington gave Denmark and the Netherlands official assurances that the United States will expedite approval of transfer requests for F-16s to go to Ukraine when the pilots are trained, the official said.
"We welcome Washington's decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Now, we will further discuss the subject with our European partners."
Denmark also said providing Ukraine with the jets would now be discussed.
"The government has said several times that a donation is a natural next step after training. We are discussing it with close allies, and I expect we will soon be able to be more concrete about that," Danish defense minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen told news agency Ritzau on Friday.
A coalition of 11 countries was due to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighter jets this month in Denmark. Denmark's acting Defense Minister Troels Poulsen said in July that the country hoped to see "results" from the training in early 2024.
NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands have been leading international efforts to train pilots as well as support staff, maintain aircraft and ultimately enable Ukraine to obtain F-16s for use in its war with Russia.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in May said the Netherlands was seriously considering providing Ukraine with F-16's, as it is currently phasing out the fighter jets from its own armed forces.
According to figures from the Dutch defense ministry the Netherlands currently has 24 operational F-16's which will be phased out by mid-2024. Another 18 of the jets are currently available for sale, of which 12 have been provisionally sold.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent letters to his Danish and Dutch counterparts assuring them that the requests would be approved, the US official said.
"I am writing to express the United States’ full support for both the transfer of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and for the training of Ukrainian pilots by qualified F-16 instructors," Blinken said in a letter to the two officials, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Blinken said, "It remains critical that Ukraine is able to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression and violation of its sovereignty."
He said the approval of the requests would allow Ukraine to take "full advantage of its new capabilities as soon as the first set of pilots complete their training."
US President Joe Biden endorsed training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in May. In addition to training in Denmark, a training center was to be set up in Romania.
Kyiv will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, Ukraine air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday. US officials have privately said that F-16 jets would have been of little help to Ukraine in its current counteroffensive and will not be a game changer when they eventually arrive given Russian air defense systems and contested skies over Ukraine.
The F-16 is made by Lockheed Martin.

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Read Letter Biden Sent to House Democrats Telling them to Support Him

A letter that President Joe Biden sent to House Democrats telling them to support him in election, shown Monday, July 8, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo)
A letter that President Joe Biden sent to House Democrats telling them to support him in election, shown Monday, July 8, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo)
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Read Letter Biden Sent to House Democrats Telling them to Support Him

A letter that President Joe Biden sent to House Democrats telling them to support him in election, shown Monday, July 8, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo)
A letter that President Joe Biden sent to House Democrats telling them to support him in election, shown Monday, July 8, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo)

President Joe Biden wants Democrats in Congress to know he has no intention of exiting this year's election, sending them a letter on Monday on his personal letterhead.
Here is Biden's letter to the congressional Democrats whose backing he likely needs:
Fellow Democrats,
Now that you have returned from the July 4th recess, I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.
I have had extensive conversations with the leadership of the party, elected officials, rank and file members, and most importantly, Democratic voters over these past 10 days or so. I have heard the concerns that people have — their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them. Believe me, I know better than anyone the responsibility and the burden the nominee of our party carries. I carried it in 2020 when the fate of our nation was at stake. I also know these concerns come from a place of real respect for my lifetime of public service and my record as President, and I have been moved by the expressions of affection for me from so many who have known me well and supported me over the course of my public life. I’ve been grateful for the rock-solid, steadfast support from so many elected Democrats in Congress and all across the country and taken great strength from the resolve and determination I’ve seen from so many voters and grassroots supporters even in the hardest of weeks.
I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.
We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,000 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.
This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me. One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.
Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?
I decline to do that. I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year. It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned. The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that. I will not do that.
I have no doubt that I — and we — can and will beat Donald Trump. We have an historic record of success to run on. From creating over 15 million jobs (including 200,000 just last month), reaching historic lows on unemployment, to revitalizing American manufacturing with 800,000 jobs, to protecting and expanding affordable health care, to rebuilding America’s roads, bridges, highways, ports and airports, and water systems, to beating Big Pharma and lowering the cost of prescription drugs, including $35 a month insulin for seniors, to providing student debt relief for nearly 5 million Americans to an historic investment in combatting climate change.
More importantly, we have an economic vision to run on that soundly beats Trump and the MAGA Republicans. They are siding with the wealthy and the big corporations and we are siding with the working people of America. It wasn’t an isolated moment for Trump to stand at Mar-A-Lago and tell the oil industry they should give him $1 billion and he will do whatever they want.
That’s whose side Trump and the MAGA Republicans are on. Trump and the MAGA Republicans want another $5 trillion in tax cuts for rich people so they can cut Social Security and Medicare. We will never let that happen. Its trickle-down economics on steroids. We know the way to build the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. We are finally going to make the rich and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes in this country. The MAGA party is also still determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which could throw 45 million Americans off their coverage. We will never let that happen either. Trump got rich denying rental housing to Black people. We have a plan to build 2 million new housing units in America. They want to let Big Pharma charge as much as they want again. What do you think America’s seniors will think when they know Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to take away their $35 insulin — as well as the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs we Democrats just got them? Or what do you think American families are going to think when they find out Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to hit them with a new $2,500 national sales tax on all the imported products they buy.
We are the ones lowering costs for families — from health care to prescription drugs to student debt to housing. We are the ones protecting Social Security and Medicare. Everything they're proposing raises costs for most Americans — except their tax cuts which will go to the rich.
We are protecting the freedoms of Americans. Trump and the MAGA Republicans are taking them away. They have already for the first time in history taken away a fundamental freedom from the American people by overturning Roe v. Wade. They have decided politicians should make the most personal of decisions that should be made by women and their doctors and those closest to them. They have already said they won’t stop there — and are going after everything from contraception to IVF to the right to marry who you love. And they have made it clear they will ban abortion nationwide. We will let none of that happen. I have made it clear that if Kamala and I are reelected, and the nation elects a Democratic House and Senate, we will make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. We are the ones who will bring real Supreme Court reform; Donald Trump and his majority want more of the same from the Court, and the chance to add to the right-wing majority they built by subverting the norms and principles of the nomination and confirmation process.
And we are standing up for American democracy. After January 6th, Trump has proven that he is unfit to ever hold the office of President. We can never allow him anywhere near that office again. And we never will.
My fellow Democrats — we have the record, the vision, and the fundamental commitment to America’s freedoms and our Democracy to win.
The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.
Sincerely,
Joe Biden
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
President of the United States of America