Ukraine has officially confirmed that it will not take the retired Tiger attack helicopters offered by Australia.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said that Kyiv has dropped its request for the 22 helicopters as the Australian Defence Force phases the type out of service in preparation of AH-64E Apaches, Australia has already received the first six of 29 contracted Apaches.

The decision is based on a number of reasons including the cost per flight hour, availability of spare parts, the helicopters technical condition and the configuration. Although the aircraft would have been provided as military aid, Ukraine would still have to pay to operate, maintain them and train pilots and technical personnel.