Romania and Netherlands agree to establish training center for F-16 pilots

Kajsa Ollongren, the head of the Dutch military department, said this in Toledo before an informal meeting of EU defense ministers, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

The Dutch Defense Minister said that today, during the informal Defense Ministerial, they will start with Ukraine. It is extremely important for the Netherlands to continue to demonstrate their unity and support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The Netherlands and Romania signed a letter of intent yesterday to provide training and maintenance for F-16s at a training center in Romania. This is a concrete step towards strengthening Ukraine's air defense from two European countries, and certainly from all European countries that are members of the F-16 coalition.

She noted that European officials will also discuss ways to strengthen European defense and joint work within the framework of the EU Strategic Compass, which was agreed by member states more than a year ago.

As reported, a meeting of EU defense ministers has begun in Spain, with the main topics being the continuation of military assistance to Ukraine and the situation in the Sahel region of Africa. Tomorrow, the discussion of these topics and other international security issues will continue during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, which will also take place in Toledo under the auspices of the Spanish EU Presidency.