EU funds €2.5bn purchase of Gripen jets for Ukraine – sources

European Pravda has reported that €2.5 billion of the €3.47 billion transferred to Ukraine by the EU on 30 July as part of "defence disbursements" under a €90 billion loan will be allocated to purchasing 16 Swedish-made Gripen E fighter jets for Ukraine's armed forces.

Source: a European Pravda correspondent, citing her own sources and European Commission spokespeople

Details: Ukraine will purchase 16 Gripen E fighter jets worth €2.5 billion using funds from the EU's €90 billion loan.

An official European Commission statement said that part of the €3.47 billion tranche transferred by the EU to Ukraine on 30 July will go towards purchasing Gripen fighter jets. Responding to a follow-up question from the European Pravda correspondent, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari confirmed this but declined to specify the number of aircraft or the sum involved.

The European Pravda correspondent later learned from her own sources that €2.5 billion of the €3.47 billion tranche will be allocated to purchasing the Gripen fighter jets.

Ukraine plans to purchase 16 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden in the near future.

Given that manufacturing new aircraft for Ukraine takes time, Sweden will transfer older-model jets already in service with its armed forces to Ukraine free of charge in 2026.

Ukraine expects to receive the first of the new Gripen fighter jets as early as 2027.

Background:

• On 16 July, the then UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced €300 million in support for the supply of 16 aircraft to help protect Ukrainian skies.
• In May, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced the forthcoming transfer to Ukraine of 16 used Gripen fighter jets, along with plans to sell 20 new aircraft.
• Meanwhile, the EU has announced that new "defence tranches" will be disbursed from the €90 billion loan in the coming weeks.

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