From late November to mid-December 2025, the Ukrainian military did not receive from Western allies a sufficient number of missiles for F-16 fighter jets, which are used to shoot down Russian drones and missiles.
Reuters reports this, citing sources.
Ukraine, they said, had only a few American AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for its entire F-16 squadron when supplies suddenly stopped. This came at a time when Russia was preparing large-scale air strikes in the winter, leaving Ukrainians without electricity, water, and heat.
Ukraine had nothing to put on its planes for almost a month. Despite this, F-16 pilots still flew daytime sorties and shot down targets with rotary cannons. Night sorties were much more dangerous, because it was at night that most of the Russian massive attacks took place.
Pilots also tried to use missiles that had failed on previous missions, hoping that they would work after a technical inspection. In some cases, they succeeded.
The missile shortage was covered in December, when Ukraine received AIM-9 air-to-air missiles from partners. Reuters sources declined to name the country or countries that delivered them.
The journalists were unable to determine the reasons for the shortage of missiles, as well as whether the delays were due to US or European procrastination. One of the Reuters interlocutors noted that Ukraineʼs foreign partners had informed Kyiv that they had no available stocks. The source did not specify which partners.
- Ukraine received the first batch of F-16s in the summer of 2024, delivered by the Netherlands. The second batch of aircraft arrived in Ukraine in December 2024, delivered by Denmark. There is no official data on how many F-16s the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently have.
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