Rafale, Belgian F-16s and ammunition for them: what Ukraine agreed with partners in one day

Rafale: training to start “in the near future”

On Monday, 5 October, President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron. According to Zelensky, Ukrainian pilots will begin training on French Rafale fighter jets in France in the near future. He called it “a strong step for Ukraine’s combat aviation”.

Zelensky also said new French defence deliveries are being prepared and Kyiv expects a new package to arrive in Ukraine “soon”; the two leaders discussed what it will contain. He added that teams from both countries are still working on localising the production of French missiles and aerial bombs in Ukraine and are actively preparing the FREYJA system. The leaders agreed to go through the details at an in-person meeting.

Earlier, after a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris, Macron said France would provide Ukraine with 16 Rafale fighters, radars and missiles.

What Macron said

After the call, the French president wrote on X that they had discussed concrete support to help Ukraine intercept drones and counter Russian aggression. In Macron’s view, Russia “has reached a dead end on the front line”, rejects calls for a ceasefire and is instead stepping up strikes on infrastructure and civilian targets.

“We will not yield to intimidation or to escalation by Russia. It should make no mistake: time is working against it,” Macron wrote.

Belgian F-16s are waiting for a green light from Paris

The same day, Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken explained in an interview with Ukrinform why handing over the three promised F-16s requires an extra step. The Belgian jets were upgraded with French electronic warfare (EW) technology, so transferring them to a third country requires an agreement signed by France.

“We can do it fairly quickly… Once it is approved, we will be able to provide the F-16s,” Francken said. He expects the approval to come soon, after which logistics will be organised. Zelensky has previously said Belgium will hand Ukraine three F-16s by the end of the year.

The minister also called reports of problems with the maintenance of Ukrainian F-16s at the Belgian company Sabena Engineering “fake”: according to him, four aircraft leave maintenance every month, and that number will soon rise to six. Belgium also keeps supplying F-16 ammunition – after a recent batch of 50,000 rounds, the ministry is considering a new request from Ukraine.

The Netherlands: spare parts, maintenance and ammunition

After his call with Zelensky, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten wrote that further strengthening Ukraine’s air defence is “literally a matter of life and death”. He said Ukraine in particular needs more maintenance, spare parts and ammunition for its F-16s, and promised that the Netherlands would help. Jetten also accused Russia of deliberately hitting civilian targets and energy infrastructure to make Ukrainian cities unliveable and paralyse the economy this winter.

Why everything comes down to the F-16

In his evening address, Zelensky said Ukraine is now looking for F-16 ammunition “practically all over the world”, because the jets are one of the strongest tools for shooting down jet-powered Shahed drones. “There are already packages on the way, and there will be more,” he said. Zelensky has previously said that, to counter jet drones effectively, the F-16s need 5,000–6,000 rounds of 20 mm ammunition per day.

Besides Macron and Jetten, Zelensky also spoke with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on 5 October. Taken together, the calls show where Kyiv’s diplomacy is focused ahead of winter: more aircraft, more ammunition for them and faster deliveries of counter-drone tools.