2023-10-11 05:40:00
The Ukrainian president is in Brussels this Wednesday, we learned The evening from a good source. This is not a first, since Volodymyr Zelensky had already visited the capital of Europe on February 9 and 10. He first gave a speech to the European Parliament. It was his first official visit to the European Parliament following addressing MEPs remotely during an extraordinary session on March 1, 2022, just following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
Volodymyr Zelensky was then received at the Brussels palace by King Philippe, to whom he gave a piece of the fuselage of a Russian Sukhoi-25 shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses. Ukrainian pilots had written the words “Together we win”, an allusion to the fact that Ukraine was already demanding fighter planes from its Western allies.
Three sensitive files
This time, President Zelensky will first participate in a morning meeting of the “Ukraine Defense Contact Group” in the presence of NATO Defense Ministers and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the headquarters of the Atlantic Organization. in Evere. Ukraine will be represented there for the first time by the new Ukrainian Defense Minister, Roustem Oumerov, who succeeded Oleksy Reznikov at the beginning of September.
According to our information, the Ukrainian president will then meet during a lunch with the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo (Open VLD), in the company of the Ministers of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder (PS), and of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib (MR). They will discuss several subjects, including the levy of taxes on Russian funds frozen at Euroclear to finance humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, the “Belgian method” to prevent the trade in Russian diamonds and the famous F-16 file.
A press conference in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky and Alexander De Croo will be held this morning, around 10 a.m.
F-16s for Ukraine in 2025
On this occasion, the Belgian government is expected to announce a new military aid package to Ukraine. If Belgium has already donated 280 million euros worth of military equipment, all the spotlight is on the fact that Belgium might finally donate “a few” F-16 fighter planes at the end of the process. We are talking regarding between two and four planes, which Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder confirmed on Bel RTL. At 16 rue de la Loi, it is specified that “this remains in the conditional, including the number”.
Ukraine urgently needs high-performance fighter-bombers to confront the Russian army as part of its counter-offensive. Three European NATO member countries (Netherlands, Norway and Denmark) have already promised sixty aircraft, but Ukraine estimates it needs twice as much.
Also read War in Ukraine: “We are really limited with our F-16s”
The Belgian government initially refused to provide it for operational reasons, but changed its mind a month ago at the request of MR, who estimated that Belgium might provide between two and four copies.
The government then instructed the Minister of Defense to carry out an “objective” analysis on the possibility of giving “a few” F-16s despite everything. With 45 aircraft capable of flying, the air force is at the limit of its operational capabilities while awaiting the arrival of the first F-35s called to succeed them.
In the best case scenario, the first two examples might be delivered in May 2024. And once more, these will remain in the United States for pilot training. Which will also be the case for the next six. The first four F-35s will only arrive in Belgium at the beginning of 2025, in Florennes… if all goes well.
In the meantime, Belgium is participating in the “F-16 coalition” by training pilots and around fifty mechanics alongside a dozen European NATO member countries.
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