Copenhagen, a Tuesday in November. Volodymyr Zelenskyy had spent the day in talks with Danish and Nordic leaders about air defence, and when journalists asked the question Ukrainians have been asking for more than a year, he finally gave them a month. The first Swedish Gripen fighters, he said, should reach Ukraine in January or February 2027, “maybe February.”

Then he added the line that matters most to a country that has spent years waiting on Western jets: the aircraft are already on their way. Speaking on 10 November, according to Interfax-Ukraine, UNN and Militarnyi, he also asked for more F-16s and said Ukraine would watch closely how the Gripens fare against Russia’s Shahed drones.

What Zelenskyy Said in Copenhagen

Zelenskyy was in the Danish capital for a two-day visit that included talks with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and a working dinner with Nordic leaders, The Copenhagen Post reported. Euronews noted that Denmark used the occasion to announce a new military aid package worth 4.8 billion kroner. Air defence ran through every conversation, and the Swedish jets came up as part of it.

Ukrainian outlets carried slightly different translations of his remarks, but the substance is the same in each: January or February, more likely February, and the process already under way. Militarnyi and UNITED24 Media both reported that Kyiv has asked its partners to deliver the aircraft as quickly as possible.

He did not talk about the Gripen in isolation. According to UNN, Zelenskyy said that “all F-16s are already part of our air defense system” and that Ukraine needs more of them, because its jets are old and constantly in work. He thanked Denmark and Norway for the F-16 fleet, and Sweden for its help.

Which Gripens, and How Many?

Zelenskyy named neither a version nor a number. The timetable, though, points in one direction. In May 2026 Sweden said it would donate up to 16 second-hand Saab JAS 39 Gripen C/D fighters from its own stocks, with handover expected in early 2027, as reported at the time by The War Zone, Militarnyi and UNITED24 Media. The donation is tied to Sweden buying newer aircraft to replace them.

UNITED24 Media noted that the January–February window matches that C/D schedule, and Interfax-Ukraine described the first batch as C/D aircraft. At least one Ukrainian outlet referred to the incoming jets as Gripen E, but no published timeline has the newer version arriving that early. How many aircraft will make up the first delivery has not been announced.

The Gripen E is a separate and later story. On 30 June 2026 Ukraine and Sweden signed for 16 new-build Gripen E, with deliveries planned for 2029–2030, a deal Afterburner covered in Es oficial: Ucrania recibirá 16 Gripen Es.. Kyiv’s long-term ambition, according to Militarnyi and UNITED24 Media, is 100 to 150 Gripen E/F.

A Date That Kept Moving

February 2027 is not the first date Ukrainians have heard. In October 2025, after the letter of intent with Sweden, Zelenskyy wrote that the first Gripens were expected the following year, Ukrainska Pravda reported. In September 2026, visiting Ukrainian trainees in Canada, he again said the jets would arrive in 2026, as Afterburner reported.

Stockholm’s own timeline never changed: early 2027. Seen that way, Tuesday’s answer is less a delay than a meeting of the two calendars. For the pilots and ground crews already training on the Swedish jets, as Militarnyi and UNITED24 Media report, it puts a season on what had been a promise.

Gripens Against Shaheds

The job Zelenskyy has in mind is clear. “We will see how the Gripens perform against these,” he said, according to Interfax-Ukraine, with other outlets making plain that he meant the Shahed drones that cross Ukraine almost every night. “This is about air defense.”

Militarnyi reported that the Gripen C/D can carry IRIS-T, AMRAAM and Meteor air-to-air missiles. Just as important for Ukraine is how the jet lives on the ground: it was designed to fly from roads and short strips with a small ground crew, a fit for an air force that has learned to keep its aircraft dispersed.

That leaves the Ukrainian Air Force with a third Western fighter type to absorb, alongside the F-16 and the Mirage 2000, each with its own spares, tools and training. The first Gripens will not change the war on their own. But for a country that counts its interceptors one by one, a February date carries real weight.

Sources: Interfax-Ukraine, UNN, Militarnyi, UNITED24 Media, Censor.NET, The War Zone, Ukrainska Pravda, Euronews, The Copenhagen Post, Defence Industry Europe.

Header photo: Saab JAS39C Gripen - Swedish Air Force by Mark Kent, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons