Netherlands contributes 40 million euros for Ukraine’s air defense equipment and sets up F-16 pilot training center

The minister will also announce tomorrow during the so-called Ramstein meeting of Ukraine’s allies that the Netherlands will contribute 40 million euros to the joint purchase of air defense equipment. Ukraine is bombarded daily by Russian drones and missiles.

Training center F-16 pilots

During a meeting yesterday in Amsterdam of the defense ministers of the ten Northern European countries participating in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), 107 million was also pledged for the air defense of Ukraine. That money comes from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) into which the Netherlands has deposited 100 million euros.

Ollongren also says that a training center will be set up in an unnamed Eastern European NATO country to train pilots for the F-16 fighters. This is intended to train Ukrainians as well as Eastern European countries that want to train their own pilots in this aircraft.

In the short term, a coalition led by the Netherlands and Denmark will already start training Ukrainians for the F-16. A Danish minister has previously suggested that it could happen in Denmark. The training sessions will start in the ‘coming months’ with a limited number of Ukrainian pilots, according to Ollongren.