- Two Turkish military planes that have been stuck in Ukraine for 10 months finally returned home.
- The crews stuck with the planes also reunited with their families after months away in Ukraine.
Two Turkish military planes that were stuck in Ukraine since Russia invaded the Eastern European country 10 months ago are finally home.
The two A400M planes touched down at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport hours before Russia's late-February invasion, Aviation Week reported in March. As of the end of March, Turkey was working with Russia and Ukraine to bring the planes — which were stuck on a tarmac at the airport — home.
According to Turkey's Ministry of National Defense, the planes were first sent to Ukraine to provide humanitarian aid and evacuate any Turkish citizens in the country.
Photos and videos posted to Twitter by Turkey's Ministry of National Defense show the jets touching down in their home country.
According to the Ministry of National Defense, the planes arrived at the Kayseri Erkilet International Airport on Tuesday. The Ministry of National Defense said that both air crafts had made it safely to their final destination. safely.
—T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) December 20, 2022
The planes' crews were also stuck in Ukraine, prompting a happy reunion for the "heroic staff" who manned the air crafts for the last 10 months, the Ministry of National Defense said on Twitter. Photos posted show families reuniting after months apart.
In a speech upon the planes' arrival back to Turkey, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan congratulated the crews.