Ukraine Has Received F-16 Fighter Jets, Zelensky Says

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Sunday that his army had received a first batch of F-16 fighter jets. The long-awaited arrival of the Western-supplied jets should bolster the country’s defenses, although Kyiv appears to have received too few of them so far to have an immediate impact on the battlefield.

“F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it,” Mr. Zelensky said in a video posted on social media networks showing him at an air base addressing and meeting Ukrainian pilots. He was standing in front of two F-16s, and two more flew overhead as he spoke.

At the very least, the arrival of the jets will boost Ukrainians’ morale, which has been dampened by months of slow but steady Russian advances on the battlefield and devastating attacks on the country’s power grid.

Mr. Zelensky said Ukrainian pilots “have already started using them for our country,” but he did not say whether they had already flown combat missions in Ukraine. Nor did he say how many jets had arrived in the country.

Ukraine hopes the F-16s, highly versatile aircraft equipped with advanced radar systems and a variety of weapons, will help turn the tide on the battlefield, where Russia has held the upper hand for much of the past year.

The presence of the jets will pose a new threat to Russian pilots and help deter them from entering Ukrainian airspace to attack troops on the front line and in cities. The F-16s are also expected to improve Ukraine’s ability to shoot down Russian missiles, easing the pressure on its weakened air defense systems.