Nearly 900 US Planes Crossed Ukrainian Airspace

A total of 891 US Air Force planes crossed Ukraine’s airspace as part of the antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry press service informed Interfax-Ukraine that from October 9, 2001 to February 4, 2002 Ukraine allowed passage to 458 military transports and 433 refueling aircraft. On February 3-4, a total of eighteen US Air Force planes crossed Ukrainian airspace. All flights were carried out in line with regulations, with all the planes being guided by radar technical forces of Ukraine’s Air Defense and Ukraerorukh (Ukraine’s airspace controller). Airfields in Mykolayiv (Kulbakine) and Lviv were on the alert to provide emergency landing strips for the American planes in case of need.