Ukraine to receive a new batch of Turkish drones, minister says

Ukraine will receive a new shipment of Turkish drones

Ukraine is set to receive a new shipment of Turkish drones, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.

The country will also receive more missiles from abroad, Qazet.az reports, citing Reznikov.

Turkish military drones are operating by Ukraine’s armed forces in its fight against Russia. Ukraine is using the UAVs on Russian hardware, according to the Russian military. Turkish Bayraktar drones had destroyed one tank and two surface-to-air missile systems overnight, it announced on Tuesday.  

On Saturday, Ukraine’s embassy in Turkey posted a video that showed what it said was the aftermath of a drone strike on a Russian military convoy near Kherson where forces entered from the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula.

Later that day, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence posted a second video that said TB2s rained fire down on Russian paratroopers near Hostomol Airport, a critical cargo airport near Kyiv. Further away, Ukraine’s air force said that the TB2 was used to destroy an entire fuel train that was attempting to resupply Russian forces operating in the field. 

Turkey has sought closer defence and economic ties with Ukraine in recent years and has sold its domestically produced Bayraktar TB2 drones to the country’s military. Ukraine first acquired an initial batch of six TB2s in 2019. In November, Kyiv announced that is ready to purchase another batch of the armed drones.

In December, Russia criticised Turkey for selling the drones to Ukraine, saying they were being used by Kiev to further the conflict with Moscow in the Donbas region.