Greece prepares military aid package for Ukraine following US request

The Greek government has instructed the responsible agencies to prepare a military aid package for Ukraine, which will include weapons and equipment no longer in use by the Greek armed forces. Source: European Pravda, with reference to Kathimerini, a Greek newspaper Details: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Greece to give the weapons to Ukraine in a letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Blinken's letter said that in return, the US will prioritise providing the Greek Air Force with a KC-135 military transport aircraft, which will increase the operational capabilities of the Greek fighter jet fleet, thus enabling Greece to sell or donate to Ukraine equipment that is not needed by its Armed Forces.

The US agreed to provide funding of up to US£200 million for this. Kathimerini wrote that the Greek political and military leadership has instructed the relevant agencies to give outdated weapons and equipment no longer used by the Greek army to Ukraine in order to secure resources for acquiring new military equipment. Greece currently has at its disposal Soviet air defence systems such as Tor, Osa, S-300, and ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft systems that are no longer in use.

It is not yet known which of these will be transferred to Ukraine.

Background: 

• The Defense Security Cooperation Agency of the US Department of Defense previously announced that the State Department had sold US£8.6 billion worth of F-35 fighters to Greece.
• Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the US decision to sell the F-35s came on an "important day for our national defence and for Greek diplomacy".
• "The letter I received from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscores and consolidates the strategic depth of the Greek-American relationship.

  As a result, Greece is officially on track to acquire up to 40 of the latest generation of F-35 fighter jets," Mitsotakis said.

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