PM of Belgium: Ukraine must gain air superiority

De Croo said this before a meeting of NATO heads of state in Washington, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"It is quite clear that Ukraine's accession to NATO is no longer a question of when it will become part of NATO," the Belgian prime minister said.

He stressed that this is an irreversible process and everything will happen at the "right time, when the right reforms are implemented".

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The head of the Belgian government believes that the main need of today is to devel the air superiority of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and air defence capabilities: "This is the most urgent need today. This is really what will help Ukraine to build a full-fledged air force, and Belgium will make the biggest contribution to this."

He reminded that Belgium is the largest donor of fighter jets to Ukraine. A total of 30 F-16s will be delivered to Ukraine over the coming years.

"We are doing everything to ensure that the first Belgian F-16s are delivered to Ukraine in 2024," de Croo stressed.

In addition, according to the Prime Minister, Belgium is making great efforts to use the frozen Russian assets, much of which are located in this country, so that Ukraine can use these funds for defence and reconstruction.

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He also said that Belgium is extremely satisfied with the bilateral security agreements it has concluded with Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine will receive F-16 combat aircraft within a few weeks. This is stated in a joint statement by US President Joe Biden and Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Dick Schoof and Denmark Mette Frederiksen.

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