Ukraine refuses to send helicopter squadron to Iraq

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced today that it has refused to send a helicopter squadron to Iraq to join Ukraine's peacekeeping force, according to Ukrainian Armed Force's Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Division Director Major-General Leonid Golopatyuk.

He said according to the anti-Iraq peacekeeping coalition's guidelines, the US and Poland should provide all helicopter support for the operation. Furthermore, Iraq does not have the necessary conditions for accommodating a Ukrainian helicopter squadron.

At the end of last year the Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated its intentions to send two military helicopters and two transport airplanes to Iraq.