Ukraine Receives 12 Turkish Drones, Orders Another 24 - Reports

Ukraine has received 12 Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones and placed an order for another 24, Turkish news website Haberler reported on Saturday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2022) Ukraine has received 12 Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones and placed an order for another 24, Turkish news website Haberler reported on Saturday.

According to the report, more than 300, or potentially over 400, Bayraktar TB2 and Siha drones have been produced in Turkey over the past eight years, with 96 of them shipped to foreign clients.

The news outlet listed among potential buyers the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania, Salvador, Serbia, Slovakia, Uruguay, and Ecuador.

In January, the CEO of the Baykar technology company, Haluk Bayraktar, announced concluding contracts to sell its Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles to 16 countries. Last September, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Turkish company signed a memorandum on the construction of a joint center for drone maintenance and modernization near Kiev.

In March, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran stated that Ankara had not donated its Bayraktar drones to Kiev as assistance, but rather that they had been sold to Ukraine by a private company.