Europe moves closer to conducting F-16 training for Ukraine

(Bloomberg) -- Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said his government intends to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s “sooner rather than later” after the US relented on allowing the fighter jet training to start.

France repeated its willingness to participate as well, as European Union ministers met in Brussels.

Ukraine reported damage to dozens of buildings and vehicles in the central city of Dnipro after another barrage of Russian missiles was unleashed overnight.

Across the country, Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down four of the 16 missiles launched as well as 20 drones, the air force said on Telegram.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to return to Kyiv after attending the Group of Seven summit in Japan, where he suggested Russian forces are taking control of the eastern city of Bakhmut after months of fighting.

Russian forces were battling attackers who crossed over the border from Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Momday, in the second such incursion reported by Moscow in two months.

President Vladimir Putin received reports from the Defense Ministry and security officials about the attack by “Ukrainian saboteurs” in the Belgorod region of Russia, which borders Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to Russian news services.

Russia has sufficient forces in the region to repel and destroy the attackers, he said.