Turkish military cargo planes stranded in Ukraine return to Turkey

Turkey’s defense minister announced Tuesday that two Turkish military cargo planes that were stranded at a Kyiv airport since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February have returned to Turkey.

The two A400M cargo planes that were stuck at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport returned to their home base in Turkey’s central Anatolian province of Kayseri, the ministry said.

“Our two A400M aircrafts, that departed from Ukraine, safely reached their home base, Kayseri,” it tweeted.

Ukrayna’dan yola çıkan 2 adet A400M uçağımız ana üsleri olan Kayseri’ye emniyetle ulaştı.#MSB pic.twitter.com/fOIk9Sy4D9

— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) December 20, 2022

The cargo planes were dispatched to Ukraine hours before the Feb. 24 invasion in a bid to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate Turkish nationals, diplomatic staff in the country but ended up stranded there after the closure of the Ukrainian airspace. Ankara maintained close contact with Kyiv and Moscow in a bid to keep planes unharmed during the Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian capital over the past weeks.