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Ukraine to Get Its First F-16 Jets in June-July

FILE PHOTO: A general view of an F-16, on the day of a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Eindhoven, Netherlands, August 20, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of an F-16, on the day of a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Eindhoven, Netherlands, August 20, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
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Ukraine to Get Its First F-16 Jets in June-July

FILE PHOTO: A general view of an F-16, on the day of a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Eindhoven, Netherlands, August 20, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of an F-16, on the day of a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Eindhoven, Netherlands, August 20, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

Kyiv expects to receive its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in June-July, a high-ranking Ukrainian military source said on Friday.

Ukraine has sought US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russia's air superiority for more than two years of war. The source did not say which country would supply the jets.

So far, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine, according to Reuters.

Illya Yevlash, spokesperson for the air force, said this week that some Ukrainian pilots were completing their training to fly the warplanes.

The Ukrainian military has had to rely on a relatively small fleet of Soviet-era jets as it has fought to hold back Russia's full-scale February 2022 invasion.

With Russian forces slowly advancing in the eastern Donbas region and mounting a fresh assault in the northeast near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials see the addition of the F-16 as a vital upgrade for its Air Force.

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Iran Says Attack on Nuclear Sites Improbable

People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
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Iran Says Attack on Nuclear Sites Improbable

People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)

The probability of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low but any potential damage would be "quickly compensated", state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Wednesday, according to semi-official Nournews.

After Iran's missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1, there has been speculation that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities, as it has long threatened to do.

"We have always taken these threats seriously," Kamalvandi said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel would listen to the United States but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.

The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets.

Biden has said he would not support an attack on Iran's nuclear sites and oil markets have been on edge over the prospect of an Israeli strike against Iranian oil fields.

Kamalvandi told Nournews that any attack on Iran's nuclear sites remained improbable and that if this happened, the damage was likely to be minimal and quickly repaired by Iran.

"We have planned in a way that if they commit any stupidity, the damages would be minimal," Kamalvandi said.

The Iranian spokesperson added that the UN nuclear watchdog and the international community should condemn any threat or attack on nuclear sites.