Latvia to Transfer Stinger MANPADS, Helicopters, Drones and Ammunition to Ukraine

Latvia will transfer Stinger MANPADS, helicopters, machine guns with ammunition and UAVs to Ukraine.

Ināra Mūrniece, Minister of Defence of Latvia, visited Ukraine this week as part of a working visit, where she met with Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defence Minister, in Kyiv. During the meeting, the ministers discussed in detail the effectiveness of the support that has already been provided by Latvia and the planned transfers of military support to Ukraine.

Quote: "I confirmed the unwavering support of the government and the people of Latvia to Ukraine in this terrible war during my conversation with Ukraine’s Defence Minister. We will transfer new batches of military support to Ukraine  in the near future, including Stinger MANPADS, helicopters, machine guns with ammunition and unmanned aerial vehicles. Latvia will continue the training of soldiers of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces of different levels this year, and it is planned to increase the intensity of training and train at least twice as many Ukrainians as we did in 2022," Delfi quotes Mūrniece.

The Ziedot.lv Foundation launched the Good News fundraising campaign in November of the previous year. During the two months of the campaign, 439,768 euros were donated to purchase Latvian-made military equipment.

An event for the transferral of the first batch of equipment will take place in the building of the 19th Combat Service Support Battalion of Zemessardze in Ulbroka on 25 January.

Ināra Mūrniece, Minister of Defence of Latvia; Oleksandr Mishchenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Latvia; Raimonds Graube, former Commander of the National Armed Forces of Latvia; Rūta Dimanta, Head of Ziedot.lv; Ugis Svirido, representative of LV-Teh; Klāvs Ašmanis, representative of Global Wolf Motors and representatives of Ukraine’s Armed Forces will attend the event.

The Ministry of Defence reported at the beginning of January that the support that Latvia provides to Ukraine amounted to 0.93% of its GDP, or more than 314 million euros. Approximately 300 million euros from this amount is military support provided by the Latvian government to Ukraine, and the rest is funds donated by Latvian people. Latvia's military aid to Ukraine includes ammunition, anti-tank weapons, Stinger MANPADS, unmanned aerial vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, helicopters, fuel, individual equipment, military rations and other necessary items.