U.S. C-17 Aircraft Delivers Israeli, Hezbollah Arms to Ukraine

U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III aircraft are transporting Israeli and Hezbollah arms to Ukraine, while Ukraine is reportedly offering Soviet missile technology that helped fuel Iran's missile program in exchange.

As per reports, C-17s continue their strategic flights from Nevatim to Rzeszow, delivering critical ammunition and weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These deliveries include Israeli MIM-104C/D/F missiles for the Patriot PAC-2/3 air defense system bound for Kiev, as well as Soviet and Russian weapons seized from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. This operation is part of a secret deal that has been under negotiation for months, involving a quid pro quo between Ukraine and Israel.

In exchange for the weaponry, Ukraine has offered Israel classified documentation from its national aerospace manufacturer, Yuzhmash, a company historically tied to ICBM development for the USSR and Russia. This offer, which was finalized in October, includes technical knowledge that could potentially aid Israel’s defense against Iranian missile advancements.

Yuzhmash engineers designed the latest generation of Russian missile launchers until 2014.

Ukraine has also proposed sharing its latest advancements in electronic warfare and counter-drone technology to assist Israel in countering threats from Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. These low-cost solutions, priced few thousand dollars each, are designed to improve Israel’s defense against increasingly common drone and loitering munition threats.

For over two years, Tel Aviv has ignored Ukraine's pleas for cooperation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government sought to maintain its deconfliction agreements with Moscow in Syria, but these expired with the regime change in Damascus in December.