ANKARA (Reuters) – Two Turkish military transport aircraft that had been stranded in Ukraine since the beginning of the war 10 months ago safely returned to Turkey on Tuesday, the defence ministry said.
The two Airbus A400M military transport planes of the Turkish Air Force had flown to Kyiv-Boryspil Airport shortly after midnight on Feb. 24 just as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
The defence ministry said the two aircraft had gone to Kyiv to deliver humanitarian supplies and evacuate Turkish citizens, but became stuck at Kyiv’s airport when Ukrainian air space was closed due to the outbreak of hostilities.
The two aircraft left Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon and arrived at the airport in the central Turkish city of Kayseri in the evening, a defence ministry statement said.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever)
