US, Germany and Finland will send more military aid to Ukraine to strengthen their defense against the Russian invasion

Ukraine received fighter jets and spare parts to reinforce its aviation, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday, without specifying how many, what type of aircraft and the origin.

“They have more fighter jets at their disposal today than they did two weeks ago,” the spokesman told the press. “Without going into detail about what other countries supply, I would say that they have received additional appliances and spare parts to increase their fleet,” he added.

He did not specify the type of aircraft supplied to the Ukrainian army, which has been ordering warplanes for weeks, but he implied that they are Russian-made. “Other nations that have experience with this type of aircraft have been able to help them have more aircraft in service,” he said, specifying that the United States, which does not want to look like a belligerent country in this war, has facilitated the shipment of spare parts to Ukrainian territory, but not planes.

Kiev asked its Western allies the Mig-29s that its soldiers know how to fly, and which a handful of Eastern European countries possess. At the beginning of March, the possible transfer of these Russian planes from Poland was discussed, but the United States opposed it, fearing that Russia might consider it too direct NATO involvement in the war war.

On the other hand, US President Joe Biden is expected to announce in the coming days another military aid package for Ukraine of the same size as the $800 million announced last week, several sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Biden government last week announced $800 million in additional aid, including artillery systems, artillery cartridges, armored personnel carriers and unmanned coastal defense ships, expanding the scope of material sent to Kiev to include new types of heavy equipment.

If this week's aid package is as large as expected, it would bring total US military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February to more than $3 billion.

European support

Likewise, Germany promised Ukraine that it will finance the direct delivery of weapons through its industry, not through its Armed Forces, since its capabilities are not unlimited.

“We have asked the German arms industry to tell us what material it can supply in the near future,” said German Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz, who told Ukraine, he said, that they will provide the necessary funds to cover these purchases. “The list includes anti-tank weapons, air defense weapons, ammunition and those that can be used in an artillery confrontation,” he told reporters in Berlin after a video conference with US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders.

Scholz has been in favour of supplying such weapons that Ukrainian forces already know how to use and has ruled out that the bulk of these deliveries are made through the German Army as stocks are “almost exhausted”.

Another ally of Ukraine is Finland, which on Tuesday announced that it will send it a new package of weapons material as a sign of its support for the Russian invasion. The Finnish Ministry of Defence confirmed the news in a statement, but warned that no further information will be provided on the content or delivery. However, it has been pointed out that the Finnish authorities have taken into account “both the needs of Ukraine and the resource situation of the Defence Forces”.

Just four days after the Russian invasion, the Finnish government chose to send weapons to Ukraine in a decision that Helsinki called “historic” because it broke the principle of non-export of arms to countries at war.

(With information from AFP and EuropaPress)

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