The Pentagon is budging on its previous pledge to not help provide desperately needed aerial power to Ukraine’s air force.

In recent days, two senior Pentagon officials told media that an element of the international arms transfer efforts to Ukraine includes spare parts for the country’s damaged fighter planes. As a result, Ukraine was able to put 20 of its planes back in the skies while the Russian military has amassed a large force in Donbas in its pursuit of taking a chunk of the strategically vital east. 

“I mean, they right now have more fixed-wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Tuesday, explaining that the spare parts have come from “other nations” and not directly from the U.S. “And that's not by accident; that's because other nations who have experience with those kinds of aircraft have been able to help them get—get more aircraft up—up and running.”

Where the new aircraft parts are coming from is a mystery. The Pentagon only confirmed they came from Europe, while the Polish Ministry of Defense, the closest ally to Ukraine and with similar Soviet-era aircraft in its arsenal, would not respond to VICE News’ requests on whether it was sending Kyiv new aircraft parts. 

Since the war began, the Biden administration has walked a diplomatic tightrope, mostly limiting its weapons supplies to Ukraine to small arms in an attempt not to trigger the Kremlin into escalatory actions against a nearby NATO nation. Though it has already sent billions of dollars’ worth of security assistance—like the decisive Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft systems Ukraine has used to devastating effect against Russian forces—only recently has the U.S. begun heavy-weapons transfers, including howitzer artillery systems (and trainers for them), helicopters, and 121 “tactical” drones capable of deploying munitions.

The war so far has seen numerous atrocities and relentless assaults from the Russian military, which has been accused of war crimes and even crimes against humanity. In lockstep with those revelations, the Biden administration has escalated its military assistance of Ukraine, providing weapons that were previously seen as unthinkable aid to the embattled nation.

In March, to the dismay of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Poland was willing to send Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine only for the Pentagon to to refuse to help transfer the planes as the U.S. feared a nuclear-armed Vladimir Putin could see it as a direct action against Russia. Zelenskyy has again and again demanded for Western powers to provide fighter planes to Ukraine in order to “close the skies” (a reference to a NATO no-fly zone), only for those requests to be denied. 

Putin, on the other hand, has repeatedly given veiled threats to NATO countries that if they supply Ukraine with weapons, they’re not only an enemy but also could face Russia’s nuclear wrath. Yesterday, in a strategically timed test of a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile—that Russia did notify the Pentagon it was doing—Putin remarked that enemies of his nation should remember their capabilities.

“This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country,” Putin said in a video released to state media yesterday.

The latest disclosure of aircraft part supplies comes as the battle for the Donbas began in the east of Ukraine days ago. Low-flying Russian Su-34 fighter jets have been filmed there already, as the Kremlin has amassed dozens upon dozens of battalions in its strategic pivot from trying to take Kyiv to securing the Donbas. Ukraine has mounted a counteroffensive and the use of fighter aircraft to intercept or engage Russian planes could prove crucial to the outcome of the key battle.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense announced Ukraine is getting an additional $1 billion worth of weapons it needs to thwart advancing Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region.

“I'm especially pleased to be able to announce today that the United States will provide an additional $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine,” said Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin III during the concluding statements of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. That group consists of 50 national heads of defense departments convening to determine the latest in the war and to coordinate aid. “It includes guided [multiple long-range rocket systems (MLRS)], munitions, 18 more M777 howitzers and the types of vehicles that hold them, and 36,000 rounds of 155 millimeter ammunition.

“Everyone here is acutely aware of the danger Ukraine faces from Russia’s relentless assault on the Donbas.” 

The security assistance, which also includes training programs for Ukrainian soldiers on those systems, brings the U.S. military aid to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government well north of $40 billion and makes Ukraine one of the most expensive militaries in Europe.

Austin was clear that these new weapons for Ukraine will be, "crucial to repel the Russian assault on the Donbas," and saluted a number of other nations making significant announcements today on new weapons aid to Ukraine. Canada will provide new artillery systems, Slovakia has given more helicopters and rocket munitions, and the U.K. and Germany pledged to help train Ukraine on MLRS capabilities. 

The Contact group, which first convened months ago while the war looked much different than the trench and artillery duels happening now in Donbas, knows that Ukraine was in dire need of long-range weapons that could strike Russian heavy guns that are positioned too far from Ukrainian forces to hit. 

Earlier weapons handed over to Ukraine included shoulder-fired hardware like Stinger anti-aircraft systems and anti-tank Javelin rockets—used to devastating effect by the much smaller Ukrainian resistance to halt and repel Russian forces. But since then the war has tactically shifted dramatically from scattered Russian units spread out across the country and assaulting the capital Kyiv, from paratroopers to massive tank deployments, to missile strikes as far west as Lviv.  

By all accounts, Kremlin forces learned from those mistakes and consolidated its war effort into Donbas using long-range attacks to blast Ukrainian towns like Severodonetsk from a distance, while incrementally deploying ground forces that consume ground by the day as supplies and logistics freely flow from western Russia into Russian-controlled Donbas. 

The fresh weapons transfer will be welcome news to Ukrainian forces that have struggled of late to stem the Russian advance into the eastern part of the country and led to fears the Kremlin might yet achieve its goal of dismantling Ukrainian statehood. In recent days, Ukraine has also admitted the war is costing the country dearly in manpower as 150 to200 soldiers are dying daily. Ukraine claims it is outgunned by Russian artillery 20-to-one. 

Some media at the conference questioned whether the security assistance is too little, too late, but Austin said he had direct discussions with the Ukrainian minister of defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, who told Austin he was thrilled at the announcement. 

Follow Ben Makuch on Twitter.

A drone enthusiast in Russia is organizing “Dronnitsa," a gathering that, according to a Telegram post about the event, aims to bring together drone operators from across the country and formalize a combat training system for commercial drone pilots to help Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“In this sense, the main goal of the ‘Dronnitsa’ meet is to initiate the formation of such an instructor corps, to establish, in fact, a new specialty—an instructor in the combat use of UAVs, and to create a system for training such specialists,” a translation of the post provided by Samuel Bendett on Twitter said.

Bendett studies drones and military robots at the Center for a New American Security think tank. He’s the co-author of a paper on the use of commercial drones in the war in Ukraine and has been watching the war unfold with a specialist's lens on the use of drones. According to Bendett’s paper, off-the shelf drones are a huge player in the war. 

“Currently, both Russian and Ukrainian forces are using military drones to strike targets on the ground, along with numerous surveillance models—both civilian and military—that provide situational awareness of the battlespace,” he wrote in the study. “A key evolution of today’s commercial drone technology as relatively cheap and easy to use resulted in its widespread use in numerous conflicts around the world, including the ongoing war in Ukraine.”

Commercial drones have become an important part of modern war. The Islamic State pioneered the art of bombing with commercial drones. Both Russia and Ukraine have been using quad-copters and other small scale drones to spy on enemy lines and drop small munitions. It doesn’t always go well and the accidents and disasters are often captured on video and uploaded to Telegram.

But Russia has had a hard time of late finding commercial drones to use in its war effort. DJI, one of the biggest drone manufacturers in the world, stopped selling to both sides in April. Moscow has pushed to ramp up domestic production of drones, but there’s no factories ready to get that production rolling.

“The military continues to manufacture drones for the war in Ukraine, although probably in smaller numbers. It's likely that the military stocked up on key parts and components prior to the war, but it's also clear that despite years of discussions, tests and even concept/prototype developments, Russia still lacks certain UAV capacity at scale,” Bendett told Motherboard. “On the civilian market, imported drones like DJI dominate, with very few Russian manufacturers able to produce UAvs and quadcopters.”

The other problem is a lack of pilots and enthusiasts. Russia’s drone laws are complicated and cities like Moscow have closed air spaces that require a special permit to fly. It’s a problem that the organizer of “Dronnitsa” seems aware of. 

“What can be done to popularize the topic of drones in ‘peaceful’ life?” the organizer Dronnitsa asked on Telegram. “It would be much easier if, in the active Armed Forces, the majority already had at least some basic familiarity with the subject and basic UAV piloting skills obtained back in civilian life."

As Bendett pointed out, Dronnitsa is unofficial. It’s a volunteer-organized event and it’s unclear if Russia’s Ministry of Defense will be present in any way. “This seems to be the inaugural event of this kind that brings together combat drone operators from Russian, [Donetsk People’s Republic]and [Luhansk People’s Republic] forces,” he told Motherboard “Although there is no evidence of an official MOD backing, it's likely that content created at the event will be shared with the military in one form or another.”

Even if the event has a small turn out, Bendett thinks it will be useful for Russia’s drone efforts. “It is likely to generate a lot of useful information that can be applied to any quadricopter/small UAV pilot in combat,” he said. “So if public lessons are shared across Telegram, they will reach a lot of people in and outside of Russia.”