President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed a «historic» agreement with the Netherlands and Denmark to give Ukraine much sought-after F-16 fighter jets.
Kyiv has urgently been calling on its Western allies to provide the US-made jets, as its slow-moving counteroffensive is hampered by Russian air superiority.
According to Zelensky, the Netherlands will give 42 of the jets to Kyiv, adding to 19 pledged by Denmark.
Ukrainian pilots have already begun training on F-16s, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Saturday. The training will last a minimum of six months and the US has committed to approving the transfer of the jets for Ukraine as soon as it is complete, according to a US official.
Here’s the latest headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine:
- Swedish aid: Ukraine is discussing «the next steps» to obtain Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, Zelensky said Saturday at a joint news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. «You cannot move fast on the ground when (the Russians) control the sky. And we need that,» Zelensky said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian fighters are already training in Sweden on the Archer artillery system, Zelensky said.
- Drones in Russia: Russia’s foreign ministry condemned a Ukrainian drone attack on a railway station in the western Russian city of Kursk on Sunday that injured at least five people. It comes after Russia reported several Ukrainian drone attacks in different regions of the country on the weekend, including Moscow.
- Chernihiv toll rises: At least seven people were killed and 156 others injured in Saturday’s Russian missile strike on Chernihiv, the northern Ukrainian city’s acting mayor said in an update Sunday. The strike — in a city close to the Russian border and far from the front lines — hit a university and a theater.
- Kharkiv shelling: Russian shelling killed a 71-year-old man in the town of Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. The attacks hit a medical institution, which was not in use, causing fires to break out, they added.
- More Russian attacks: In Kherson, a woman was killed by shelling Saturday morning, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. And overnight, two women were wounded by a Russian air raid on Khmelnytskyi that damaged more than 30 houses, the deputy head of the region’s military administration said.
- Putin no-show: Vladimir Putin will be notably absent from the BRICS summit this week. The Russian president’s no-show speaks volumes about Moscow’s isolation — and his shrinking horizons, CNN’s Nathan Hodge writes.
