Ukraine has received additional fighter jets and aircraft from other countries to boost its fleet amid Russia’s attack, a senior Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
“I would just say, without going into what other nations provide, that they have been given additional platforms and parts to be able to increase their fleet, the size of their aircraft fleet. “I think I’ll leave it at that,” spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He also said that Ukrainian forces had received support “to make some of their fixed-wing aircraft more operational again” and now have more fixed-wing fighters at their disposal than two weeks ago.
“It’s no accident,” Kirby said. “This is because other nations that have experience with these types of aircraft have been able to help them put more aircraft into service.
The United States has begun pouring aid into Ukraine’s security in Europe from a $ 800 million lethal aid package approved by the Biden administration last week.
A flight with such aid arrived in Europe yesterday, with seven more expected to arrive on the continent in the next 24 hours, a U.S. defense official told reporters earlier Tuesday.
The complete package includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 300 Switchblade drones, 18 howitzers, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 10 anti-artillery radars, 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles, protective equipment for chemical attack, bulletproof vests and helmets.
“None of these shipments lasted very long before being unloaded by aircraft and properly loaded on land transport to enter Ukraine,” the official added.
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Kirby said on Tuesday that “there are about eight to 10 flights a day” loaded with Ukrainian military aid landing in European places.
“They are not all American flights and not all of them come from America – but eight to 10 flights… this material is placed on pallets and placed on a land delivery vehicle and enters Ukraine on different routes,” Kirby said.
Of note are the heavier systems recently provided by the United States and other NATO countries – including aircraft, howitzers and tanks – due to Russia’s warnings that such military aid would be seen as intervention in the war.
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