The Federal Council of Ministers has approved on Friday military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 100 million for the maintenance of F-16 fighter jets, Belgian Minister of Defense Ludivine Dedonder said.

Belgium is one of the 13 member states of the F-16 coalition, led by the Netherlands, Denmark and the United States, which plans to supply these multirole aircraft to Kyiv.

"Belgium has been participating in this coalition since its creation," Dedonder said.

"We have already started to train Ukrainian technical specialists for operational maintenance of the F-16 fleet, and our participation in the education and training of future pilots of this advanced and high-tech aircraft takes place in Denmark," the minister said.

Belgian media recall that in October 2023, during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Brussels, the current Belgian government announced its intentions to transfer Belgian F-16s to Ukraine in 2025. Such a decision must be approved by the future government that will come to power after parliamentary elections.