Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced that a shipment of new Bayraktar TB-2 combat drones has already been put into service. 

The announcement was part of a lengthy recap of the past day, posted on Reznikov’s Facebook page. 

“New Bayraktars have already arrived in Ukraine and have been put into service. More Stingers and Javelins are to come,” Reznikov said, referring to FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air-defense systems and FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles. 

In recent days many European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden, announced that they would be sending military equipment to Ukraine as a response to the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022.  

Numerous Turkish Air Force Airbus A400M flights between Ankara (ANK) and Rzesow (RZE) in Southern Poland were conducted between February 25 and 27, 2022. It is possible that this is how the drones were delivered to Europe, before being shipped over the Ukrainian border. 

Reznikov did not provide any details on the number or the exact variant of the drones that were delivered.  

Ukraine started ordering Bayraktars from Turkey in 2019. Around 20 drones have been delivered and put into use by both the Ukrainian Air Force and Navy. In October 2021, Ukraine announced the first combat use of the type.  

Shortly after launching the invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia announced that Ukrainian air assets haved been destroyed with “high precision weaponry”. Hours later, Russia claimed to have shot down several Bayraktar drones. 

Since then, Ukrainian military published multiple videos, claiming the footage portrays Bayraktar drones destroying various Russian military targets, including anti-aircraft systems and resupply convoys.