The Westland Sea King WS-61 HU5 military helicopters donated by the UK to the Kiev Armed Forces have made their official war debut in Ukraine. This is testified by a video posted on social networks by the Ukrainian interior minister, Oleksii Reznikov. The footage shows the two aircraft in action near the Black Sea.

"Sea King from the United Kingdom has arrived in its new kingdom near the Black Sea in Ukraine. It is a strong reinforcement for the Ukrainian navy. Our cooperation will continue to increase. Together, we will secure the seas and lands across Europe", said Reznikov in a tweet accompanying the footage showing the two ex-British Royal Navy helicopters.

This comes two months after London announced it was sending three aircraft. Indeed, on November 22, 2022, the British defense secretary, Ben Wallace, had announced that the United Kingdom navy had trained 10 Ukrainian flight crews and ground personnel in a six-week course for the use of the Sea King (decommissioned by Royal Navy in 2018) before transferring them to Kyiv.