Ukrainian Ambassador to US surprised that Kyiv purchased French military helicopters but not American
During a press club meeting of leaders of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the USA Valeriy Chaly stated that Ukraine should have bought US and not French military helicopters, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
"I don’t want this to look like I deal only with the USA... but if the country [Ukraine] puts rearmament as its main goal and has limited funds, they should set the priorities right. The countries that provide the maximum assistance to us should be given priority. And the General Staff confirmed that 98% of the assistance that Ukraine has received is provided by the USA,” the Ambassador said.
Chaly added that he had previously raised this question with the leadership of the General Staff so he was surprised when Ukraine purchased fifty-five Airbus Helicopters from France. He said that such funds should have been spent on helicopters from the USA.
On July 14, the French company Airbus Helicopters signed a contract to supply helicopters for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Ukraine bought H225, H145 and H125 helicopter models for the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs for 551 million euro, using a 475-million-euro loan at 4.25% interest from the State Treasury of France and a consortium of French banks. In 2018, the Ministry is planning to receive the first four helicopters for its new response service.
Apart from the helicopters, on the basis of the established state service center, Ukraine will also receive technical support, maintenance service, trainers and technicians, as well as training for crew and trainers who will train personnel in future.
The Ministry explained that purchasing the helicopters was necessary to upgrade the helicopter fleet.