Daily Sabah
April 6, 2022

Ukraine’s defense imports from Turkey up 30-fold in Q1

Ukraine has purchased almost 30 times as much defense industry equipment from Turkey in the first quarter as it did a year earlier, official data showed, as it prepared for and fought against the Russian invasion.

Turkey exported $59.1 million of such products to Ukraine in the period, compared with $1.9 million in the first quarter of 2021, data published by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) showed.

***

Ukraine has bought more than 20 Bayraktar TB2 armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Turkish drone magnate Baykar in recent years. It is said to have ordered a further 16 on Jan. 27. That batch is reported to have been delivered in early March.

The battle-tested drones have already proven their capabilities in Libya, Syria and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ankara and Kyiv have long-standing defense-cooperation ties.

A member of the NATO military alliance, Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both.

***

Turkey’s total first-quarter defense exports jumped nearly 50% year-over-year, Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) Chair Ismail Demir said on Tuesday.

“Our defense and aviation sector exported $961 million in the first 3 months of the year, an increase of 48.6% compared to the same period last year … I emphasize once again that we need to work harder for our goals,” Demir said on Twitter.

In 2021 Turkey exported more than $3.2 billion in defense products, an increase of 41.5% compared with 2020.

====

Daily Sabah
April 6, 2022

Ukraine counts on Turkey’s support, leadership: Zelenskyy

kraine trusts in Turkey’s support and leadership, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday amid the ongoing war with Russia.

Speaking to Turkish broadcaster Habertürk, Zelenskyy touched upon the negotiations with Russia and said that Ukraine received guarantees from representatives of some states.

“They said they are ready to host meetings. Some countries said they volunteered to be guarantors. The United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, and Israel are some of these countries. They said they were ready for this. During the meetings, we will talk about what security guarantees are. Warranties will be clear. Negotiations with Russia will follow,” he said.

“We count on Turkey’s full support. We trust the Turkish leadership,” he added.