Eight British-made Hurricane fighters from World War II were discovered buried in a forest in Ukraine, the BBC reported on July 2.
The U.K. sent the planes to the Soviet Union in 1941 after the invasion by Nazi Germany. The U.S. paid for them as part of the lend-lease assistance program for its allies.
The BBC quoted excavation head Oleks Shtan as saying that discoveries like this are very rare in Ukraine, and no lend-lease aircraft has ever been discovered before.
A total of 3,000 Hurricanes, versatile fighter craft, had been provided to the USSR; the majority have been destroyed. The eight discovered in the forest south of Kyiv were deliberately dismantled and buried so the Soviets didn't have to pay the U.S., according to the report.
Now that Russia is the one invading, the U.S. has approved a lend-lease program for Ukraine, making it easier to supply arms to the beleaguered country.
Asami Terajima
(Updated: )
