After the dispatch of Howitzer artillery pieces announced last week by Joe Biden, this announcement, which comes at a time when Russia has just launched a new offensive in the Donbass, testifies to a change in attitude on the part of Westerners, which for more than a month refused to supply Ukraine with heavy armaments, to avoid any escalation of the conflict.

"Today (the Ukrainians) have more fighter jets at their disposal than two weeks ago," the spokesman said during a press briefing.

"Without going into detail on what other countries are supplying, I would say that they have received additional aircraft and spare parts to increase their fleet," he added.

These are probably Russian-made Mig-29s, which kyiv has been asking for since the start of the conflict and which a handful of Eastern European countries have.

Poland had proposed to transfer such planes via an American base at the beginning of March, but the United States had opposed it, fearing that Russia could see too much direct involvement of NATO in the conflict.

Mr. Kirby did not name the donor countries, but he implied that these were indeed Russian-made devices.

"Other nations that have experience with these kinds of aircraft have been able to help them get more aircraft into service," he said.

A Ukrainian soldier on an armored car near the front line in the Izyum district of the Kharkiv region on April 18, 2022 Anatolii Stepanov AFP

He said that the United States had facilitated the shipment of spare parts to Ukrainian territory but had not sent planes there.

The United States and the European Union announced on Tuesday that they would not stop there.

"Urgent need"

Meeting by audioconference, French leaders Emmanuel Macron, British Boris Johnson, German Olaf Scholz, Romanian Klaus Iohannis, Polish Andrzej Duda, Italian Mario Draghi, Canadian Justin Trudeau and Japanese Fumio Kishida reached "a broad consensus on the need to accentuate pressure on the Kremlin," the Italian government said.

Boris Johnson “reported to other leaders on his visit to kyiv this month,” noted a Downing Street spokesperson.

"He underlined the urgent need for additional military assistance for Ukraine in the face of a major Russian offensive in the Donbass and continued attacks elsewhere."

The participants in the appeal notably "reaffirmed their commitment to continue their military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine", according to White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

And according to CNN and NBC News, the United States is set to approve a new military aid package for Ukraine amounting to $800 million, less than a week after an earlier announcement of a tranche of the same amount.

The first shipments of the tranche of American military aid for Ukraine announced on April 13 have already arrived at the country's borders to be handed over to the Ukrainian army, and the United States will train Ukrainian soldiers in the use of M777 guns Howitzer, the latest generation artillery pieces that the United States has decided to hand over to the Ukrainian army for the first time.

Ukrainian soldiers aboard armored personnel carriers, not far from the front line, in Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, on April 18, 2022 Anatolii Stepanov AFP

Even if their handling is not fundamentally different from that of artillery with which the Ukrainian army is familiar, these guns use 155 mm shells, used by NATO countries, while Ukraine does not yet have than Russian-made 152 mm shells.

Armaments transfers to Ukraine, daily since the beginning of the invasion, are done discreetly, the participating countries not wanting to appear as belligerents in this conflict.

According to Czech media, Prague sent trains loaded with T-72 tanks and Soviet-made armored vehicles to Ukraine in early April, an unprecedented operation.

Official sources refused to confirm this information.

Czech arms companies will repair Ukrainian heavy military equipment, following a recent request from authorities in kyiv, the Czech Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Initially, subsidiaries of the industrial holding Czechoslovak Group (CSG), will take over the repair of Soviet-designed T-64 medium tanks, operated by Ukrainian forces, but in the future repairs may be extended to BRD and BRDM armored vehicles, involving other Czech companies, according to a ministerial statement.

© 2022 AFP