​The Netherlands will deliver 18 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country fight Russian forces, the Dutch government announced on Friday, Reuters reported.

“Today I informed President Zelensky about our government’s decision to prepare the first delivery of 18 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Acting Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a post on the X social media platform.

“The supply of F-16 is one of the most important elements of the concluded agreements on military support of Ukraine.”

The delivery of the fighter jets is still pending export approval from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the fulfillment of personnel and infrastructure criteria from Ukraine, Rütte added, without giving a timetable for those decisions.

But the announcement allowed funds and people to be set aside to prepare the planes for delivery, the government said.

“I spoke with Mark Rutte to thank the Dutch government for the decision to start preparing the first 18 F-16s for their delivery to Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on X.

Last month, the Netherlands sent its first American-made F-16s to a new European training center in Romania.

Denmark, Norway and Belgium have also announced that they will transfer F-16s to Ukraine after the US government approves their shipment once pilot training is complete.