Ukraine and Sweden signed a contract on Tuesday for the acquisition of 16 Saab Gripen E multi-role fighters, a deal valued at 24.6 billion Swedish kronor (approximately $2.5 billion). The agreement, confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson, includes spare parts, technical assistance, and logistical support. Deliveries are scheduled between 2029 and 2030, while a separate donation of 16 older Gripen C/D aircraft from Sweden’s active fleet is expected to begin in early 2027. Viewed from Kyiv, the purchase marks a shift away from a patchwork of donated Western airframes toward a standardised, NATO-interoperable combat aviation force, with Ukrainian pilots and technicians already training in Sweden.

Simultaneously, the Ukrainian military claimed a second strike in just over a week on the Dubna Satellite Communications Centre, located roughly 500 kilometres north of Moscow. President Zelensky stated the facility is used for reconnaissance and coordination of Russian forces in Ukraine. The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, confirmed a drone hit an administrative building in Dubna without casualties, but reported that a six-month-old infant died in Yegoryevsk after a drone struck a residential building. A 61-year-old woman was also killed in the Tver region by debris from a downed drone. Moscow’s mayor said air defences intercepted more than 60 drones aimed at the capital, and the Russian defence ministry claimed a total of 419 drones were destroyed or intercepted overnight across 19 regions.

Ukrainian military operators attributed the ability to penetrate dense air defences around Moscow and St. Petersburg to the systematic destruction of Russian radar stations in the Bryansk border region, creating what they described as an “open corridor.” The strikes form part of a 40-day campaign announced by Zelensky last week, designed to increase pressure on the Kremlin to end the war. In parallel, Russian forces struck five fuel supply stations in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, killing one woman and wounding three, and a drone hit a passenger bus in Kherson, leaving two dead. European Union institutions, meanwhile, disbursed the first tranche of a €90 billion support loan to Kyiv, with €3.9 billion earmarked for drone procurement.

The Gripen E, equipped with an AESA radar, electronic warfare suite, and a General Electric F414 engine, is designed for dispersed operations from short, improvised airstrips—a capability Ukrainian officials view as critical given the persistent threat of Russian missile strikes on airbases. The contract, financed through the EU’s Ukraine Support Loan, represents a first step in a broader ambition outlined in a 2025 letter of intent to acquire up to 150 Gripen aircraft over 10–15 years. The first C/D models are to be transferred as military aid by early 2027, with the new-build E variants following from 2029. Training of Ukrainian personnel on the Gripen platform has been underway since August 2023.