Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Ukraine receives fighter planes, parts to bolster air force, says Pentagon

By AFP 19 April 2022, 11:42 pm Edit

Ukrainian servicemen study a Sweden shoulder-launched weapon system Carl Gustaf M4 during a training session on the near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)

Ukrainian servicemen study a Sweden shoulder-launched weapon system Carl Gustaf M4 during a training session on the near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)

Ukraine has received fighter planes and aircraft parts to bolster its air force in the face of Russia’s invasion, the Pentagon says, declining to specify the number and type of aircraft nor their origin.

Ukrainian forces “right now have available to them more fixed-wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tells reporters.

He notes the United States has “helped with the transshipment of some additional spare parts that have helped with their aircraft needs, but we have not transported whole aircraft.”