Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Danish lawmakers on Monday for helping his country resist Russia's invasion, a day after Denmark and the Netherlands announced they will provide Kyiv with F-16 warplanes. Zelensky said that if Russia's invasion is successful, other parts of Europe would be at risk from the Kremlin's military aggression. "All of Russia's neighbors are under threat if Ukraine does not prevail," he said in a speech in Copenhagen. Ukraine has been pressing its Western allies for months to grant it F-16s. Its armed forces are still using aging Soviet-era combat planes, and its counteroffensive against Russian positions is advancing without air support in what analysts say is a major handicap. Zelensky said on Telegram that Ukraine would get 42 jets. Denmark pledged 19 F-16s, which could be delivered around the end of the year when pilot training lasting four to six months is completed. However, getting Ukrainian squadrons battle ready could take much longer. US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of US air forces in Europe and Africa, said last week that he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take "four or five years," he said. The United States announced last week its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver the F-16s. Its blessing for the plane donations to other countries is needed because the aircraft are made in the United States. On Sunday, Zelenskyy visited the Netherlands and inspected two gray F-16s parked in a hangar at a Dutch base in the southern city of Eindhoven together with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Rutte didn't provide a number or timeframe for deliveries, saying it depends on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready. Russia says it foiled two Ukrainian drone attacks on Monday morning, which caused no casualties, the Russian Defence Ministry says. At around 06:50 local time (3:50 GMT) on Monday, an attempt by Kyiv to carry out "a terrorist attack (using an) unmanned aerial vehicle (...) was foiled", the ministry said on Telegram. Detected by air defenses in the Moscow region, the craft was "neutralized by electronic warfare means" and then "crashed near the village of Pokrovskoye, in the Odintsovo district", south-west of the capital, the Russian Defence Ministry added. Another "terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime" was foiled at 08:16 (05:16 GMT), when Russian air defense shot down a drone in the Istra district, also in the Moscow region, to the north-west of the Russian capital, the same source said. According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, following these incidents, Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo international airports temporarily imposed restrictions on departures and arrivals and redirected several flights to other locations. Drone attacks inside Russian territory have been on the increase for several weeks, usually without causing any damage or casualties, and have targeted the Russian capital in particular. British military intelligence says the Kremlin is "expanding its military structures in the face of wartime realities." The Ministry of Defense makes the assessment in its latest Monday morning briefing, and says one new measure will mean that units currently operating in the Kherson region, including the 22nd Army Corps, are likely to be amalgamated into a new structure called the 18th Combined Arms Army. The British MoD says the new 18th CAA is likely to consist mostly of mobilized personnel and focus on defensive security operations in the south of Ukraine. "Russia likely aims to free up more experienced units to fight on key axes.2 "There is a realistic possibility that this has led to the recent re-deployment of airborne forces from Kherson to the heavily contested Orikhiv sector," the Ministry of Defence adds. Several hundred people took to the streets of the Finnish capital Helsinki, and the west coast city of Turku on Sunday to mark the third anniversary of the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. And in the Polish capital Warsaw, protesters gathered outside the Russian embassy waving banners that read "Putin the killer" and "Freedom for Political Prisoners." — Euronews
