Key developments on Sept. 21-22: * Ukraine awaits Mirage 2000 jets, in talks about Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, defense minister says * Ukraine confirms overnight strikes on Russian arms depots * Iran provided no launchers with missile deliveries to Russia, Reuters reports * Russia preparing strikes against Ukrainian nuclear facilities ahead of winter, foreign minister
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine has an agreement to receive Dassault Mirage 2000 jets. According to the minister, Ukraine is in talks to acquire Swedish-made Saab JAS 39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon fighters.
Weeks after Ukraine received its first batch of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets from European allies and more than a year after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the start of test trials on Sweden’s prestigious Gripen multipurpose variants, Stockholm signaled that their possible transfer to Ukraine remains on the
Sweden has included combat boats, anti-tank weapons, ammunition, and Gripen jet spare parts in its latest military aid package for Ukraine, valued at 4.6 billion Swedish krona ($443 million), the Swedish Defense Ministry announced on Sept. 9.
Swedish government did not refuse to send Gripen along with F-16 fighter jets from other allies, but Ukraine said that having two aircraft systems at the same time "was too much," Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom.
"We have been urged by the other countries in the coalition to wait with the Gripen system," Defense Minister Pal Jonson told TT in Brussels, adding: "This has to do with the fact that the focus is now on introducing the F-16 system."
In March 2024, Sweden became NATO’s 32nd member state after a lengthy application process triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Joining the alliance comes at arguably the most turbulent time in European security since the end of the Cold War, with Russia scaling up its military industrial
"The deliberations are ongoing, and they take place within the fighter jet coalition," Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said in an interview with the Kyiv Independent in Stockholm on March 28.
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