Zelensky is in Netherlands to discuss the supply of F-16 fighters, and Russia is being hit by drones

 Today, Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Netherlands to discuss supplying his country with F-16 aircraft, in conjunction with the start of training Ukrainian pilots on these American fighters, while several regions of Russia were struck by drones.

Zelensky's plane landed at a Dutch air force base in Eindhoven, south of the Netherlands, two days after Washington agreed to send F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands, which are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Ukrainian president said on social media that his talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will focus on providing Amsterdam with F-16s to protect the Ukrainian people from what he described as Russian terrorism.

And Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced - yesterday, Saturday - that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters has begun, indicating that this will take at least 6 months and possibly a more extended period.

Reznikov said - in a television interview - that 6 months of training is considered the minimum for pilots, adding that he did not yet know how long it would take to train engineers and technicians.

Ukrainian minister added that he would not provide details about the place and date of the training, but indicated that his country was in the process of preparing the necessary infrastructure for the use of these fighters.

And a US official announced - last Thursday - that Washington had agreed to send F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands, once the training of Ukrainian pilots was completed.

Moscow warned Washington of the consequences of providing Kyiv with these fighters, which the Ukrainians hoped will change the direction of the war in their favor.

In the same context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced yesterday, Saturday, during a press conference following his talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christson in Stockholm, that his country had begun talks with Sweden to discuss the possibility of receiving Gripen combat aircraft.

In field developments, this morning, three Russian provinces were attacked by Ukrainian drones.

Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone this morning in the Stobinsky area, south of Moscow, without causing any casualties.

After a temporary suspension of flights at Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports due to the interception of the drone, the Russian Air Transport Authority announced that work at all Moscow airports had returned to normal.

Shortly before that, TASS news agency reported that a Ukrainian march crashed at dawn today on the roof of the train station in the city of Kursk, which is located about 90 km from the border with Ukraine, injuring 5 people, according to what the agency quoted from the governor of the region.

The governor of Rostov-on-Don, bordering Ukraine, also announced that Russian forces had thwarted this morning a Ukrainian attack with three drones on the province.

Yesterday, Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had thwarted a drone attack on the Moscow and Belgorod regions.

The ministry also confirmed that a military plane was hit yesterday as a result of another Ukrainian attack by a drone on a military airport in the Novgorod region, north of the capital.

In the face of Russian strikes, which Kyiv says target infrastructure, including ports, Ukraine has intensified its attacks by drones on targets inside Russia, some of which are located in the heart of the capital, Moscow.

About the course of the battles, the fronts of northeastern Ukraine are witnessing a major escalation, especially in the Kharkiv region, as Anna Malyar, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, described the situation in the city of Kobyansk as difficult.

Malyar said that Russian forces are attacking Kobyansk in an attempt to control the city, which is a major transportation point and a center for the Russian offensive in the east, while a local official said that evacuations of residents from Kobyansk and its surroundings are continuing.

On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its forces continue to target the positions of the Ukrainian army in the direction of Kobyansk, noting that the attacks targeted the concentration of forces, equipment, ammunition depots, and command centers.

Also in Donetsk, Ukrainian forces are trying to make further progress south and north of the city of Bakhmut, which was controlled by the Russian private military group Wagner last May.

In Zaporizhia Province (southeast), Ukrainian accounts on social media reported that fierce fighting is taking place inside the strategic town of Robotina, and the Ukrainian army is trying to penetrate Russian fortifications to advance south towards the cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol, which are under Russian control on the Sea of Azov.

For its part, the Russian army said that it had struck the Ukrainian forces in the regions of Urogenya and Staromayorsky in Zaporizhia, and destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainians in Nova Mikhaylovka, Kherson Province, which in turn is located in southern Ukraine.

Since the fourth of last June, the Ukrainian forces have launched a counterattack on a wide front to the east and south, and have made only limited gains so far due to the strong fortifications built by the Russian forces.

Source: Agencies