Turkish firm Baykar gifts drones to Ukraine
ANKARA
Turkish drone-manufacturer Baykar, which has President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law as one of its directors, offered three of its drones to the Ukrainian army on June 27.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the company noted that a crowdfunding campaign had raised enough money to buy several of its TB2 UAVs "for Ukrainians to use in defence of their Homeland".
"Baykar will not accept payment for the TB2s, and will send 3 UAVs free of charge to the Ukrainian war front," it added.
"We ask that raised funds be remitted instead to the struggling people of Ukraine."
Ukraine has already said that the Turkish drones it had at the start of the war had proved their worth against the Russian forces.
At the beginning of June Baykar offered Lithuania a free combat drone so the funds Lithuanians had raised to buy one for Ukrainian forces could go towards humanitarian aid.
Ukraine has said it had around 20 TB2 drones at the start of the war.
Some experts say that Ukraine is still getting deliveries of Turkish combat drones, something Ankara has never confirmed.
