The Russian government claimed to arranged to send the United States a plane full of medical supplies to help with the coronavirus pandemic after a phone call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian state TV reported Tuesday that the military transport plane is bound for the U.S., leaving early Wednesday morning from Moscow.
“Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Trump said earlier this week that Russia would help with medical aid in the U.S., but didn’t give many details.
“And I have to say, we’ve had great relationships with a lot of countries,” he said during a daily press briefing Monday. “China sent us some stuff, which was terrific. Russia sent us a very, very large planeload of things, medical equipment, which was very nice.”
The Russian foreign ministry’s Twitter account also shared a video of the plane “en route” early Wednesday.
???? Following phone talk between Presidents #Putin & @realDonaldTrump #Russia sends largest cargo aircraft An-124 Ruslan ✈️ with ? medical supplies (masks + equipment) to #US to help fight #COVID19 pandemic, save lives of American citizens. ? The plane is en route #RussiaHelps pic.twitter.com/efeSK78cuB
— MFA Russia ?? (@mfa_russia) April 1, 2020
“It is important to note that when offering assistance to U.S. colleagues, the president [Putin] assumes that when U.S. manufacturers of medical equipment and materials gain momentum, they will also be able to reciprocate, if necessary,” Peskov was cited as saying.
Trump warned the U.S. Tuesday to brace for a “very painful two weeks” ahead as a surge of deaths is expected to hit the country. So far, there have been about 184,000 cases of the coronavirus and at least 3,700 deaths in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
