Netherlands to send last of pledged 24 F-16s to Ukraine on May 26
The Netherlands will send the remainder of the 24 F-16 fighter jets it had promised to Ukraine on May 26, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on the Dutch broadcaster WNL on May 25.
Ukraine received its first F-16 jets from the Netherlands and Denmark in 2024. The U.S.-made fourth-generation fighter jets have been deployed to bolster Ukraine's sky shield and help repel Russian aerial attacks.
"We are also training pilots and technicians and sharing our military doctrines, so that Ukraine can build a modern armed force that matches that of the NATO member states," Brekelmans said on air.
Apart from the Dutch aircraft, Ukraine has been promised 19 F-16s by Denmark, 30 by Belgium, and at least six from Norway. European nations have agreed to supply aircraft to help modernize the Ukrainian Air Force as they themselves transition to more advanced F-35 fighter jets.
The F-16 aircraft are being provided within the framework of the international fighter jet coalition, with some partners contributing training and technical support.
Oslo announced earlier this month that it would complete the delivery of its planes by the end of 2025. Similarly, the Belgian government said it would provide its aircraft sooner than the 2028 deadline.
Ukraine has confirmed that it has lost three of its F-16 jets in action.
Read also: Russia pushes forward in Donetsk Oblast, threatening Ukrainian pocket around Toretsk
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When Brazil's military seized control of the country in 1964 and installed an authoritarian dictatorship, Palmares became a contested symbol once again. During the 1970s, a new generation of Black activists mobilized to replace narratives of Princess Isabel as a liberator with another figure: Zumbi. They faced considerable censorship and repression. The generals who ran the country suspended democratic institutions and attacked university professors and students. Censors targeted ideas and histories that highlighted historical examples of racism and its legacies. Bringing histories of 17th-century liberation to light was part of a larger, multi-racial mobilization and political, social, and cultural initiative that helped bring down the dictatorship in 1985. Much later, in 2011 Congress declared Nov. 20 the National Day of Zumbi and Black Consciousness, and communities have erected monuments to Zumbi across the nation. While some see this history as essential to an honest reckoning with Brazil's past, and Zumbi's resistance to slavery as a source of pride and inspiration, these stories threaten existing narratives about the nation. Not all municipalities celebrate Nov. 20 today, for example, and Zumbi monuments have been defaced with racist graffiti. Yet Brazil's tense history towards memorializing Palmares shows that it is possible to counter even the harshest forms of censorship to reclaim essential histories. In fact, state efforts to whitewash history can inadvertently create opportunities for activists to push narratives in the opposite direction—expanding, rather than narrowing, how slavery and its long legacies are conceived and discussed. The remarkable 17th-century existence of Palmares and the inspiring afterlives that Black activists across the hemisphere have given it represent a powerful counter to censorship. Palmares and its historical memory also underscore just how much Americans stand to lose through attempts to curb the telling of histories, such as the efforts to end the 400 Years Commission, the exhibition at the Whitney Plantation, and countless other examples in recent months. Most of all, the history and memorialization of Palmares remind us how much the present is made by the past. Just as the people who made Palmares inspired future generations to keep its history present and vital, the activists who did so may serve as guiding lights today. Marc A. Hertzman teaches history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He recently published a book about Palmares and co-authored an animated short for Ted-Ed.
