The rusty remains of eight British Hurricane fighters from the Second World War were discovered during excavations in a forest in the Kyiv region, the BBC reports. The planes were supplied to the USSR by Great Britain during the Nazi invasion.

This is the first time that such a large number of aircraft, which Great Britain sent to the Soviet Union during the Second World War after Nazi Germany attacked the country in 1941, has been discovered in Ukraine.

They were part of a package of allied military support to the USSR, which was paid for by the United States under the so-called Lend-Lease program.

Similar legislation is being used today by the US government to send military aid to Ukraine, which is trying to oust Russian forces from its territory.

“It is very rare to find such planes in Ukraine,” says Oleks Stan, a former airline pilot who is leading the excavation.

“This is very important for our aviation history, because no Lend-Lease aircraft has ever been found here,” explained the former pilot.

3,000 Uragan fighters were delivered to the USSR

During the war against Germany, Britain sent about 3,000 Hurricane fighters to the Soviet Union. Most of them were either destroyed in battles or later dismantled.

In particular, some aircraft were deliberately buried after the war so that the Soviet Union would not have to pay the US.

According to the legislation on credit agreements, the USSR was obliged to pay for any transferred military equipment that remained intact after the end of hostilities.

That seems to have been the fate of eight planes found buried in a forest south of Kyiv, which until 1991 was part of the USSR.

Radios, machine guns and other useful scrap metal were recovered and then hauled away by tractors from a nearby airfield, destroyed and carelessly dumped in a shallow ravine. Probably, then they were covered with earth by bulldozers.

“Powerful and easy to control” aircraft

British Hurricane fighters during the battle shot down more than half of the enemy aircraft, being a “powerful and easy-to-maneuver aircraft” and suitable for inexperienced pilots, Oleks Stan estimates.

The remains were recently discovered after an unexploded World War II bomb was found nearby.

The territory was checked with metal detectors and “Hurricanes” were found.

The difference between the Second World War and the conflict in Ukraine is noticeable: in 1941, Great Britain was the first to supply fighter jets to the USSR, and now Great Britain is the first country to provide cruise missiles to the Ukrainian army.

Currently, in his opinion, there are only 14 restored Hurricane fighters left in the world.