At a meeting on 30 March, the Government of North Macedonia decided to provide Ukraine with helicopters free of charge, Fokus reports.
Earlier, Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska said that 12 Mi-24 helicopters were likely to be transferred.
"The government has considered and adopted the Information on the need to conclude a protocol on the free transfer of aircraft (helicopters) between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and has adopted a decision on the free transfer of aircraft (helicopters) to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia considered and adopted the agreed text of the Protocol on the Free Transfer of Aircraft between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine," the government said in a statement.
The Mi-24 helicopters are Russian-made. North Macedonia purchased them from Ukraine in 2001. Their service life expired eight years ago, so they are not used due to a lack of spare parts.
"Some of them – two – have been modernised, but this modernisation was adapted to the conditions at the time and does not meet what is needed now, even if we want to talk about the development of technology," Petrovska said recently.
Earlier, North Macedonia handed over four Su-25 attack aircraft to Ukraine.