I vaguely recall that during the Yugoslav Civil War (Bosnia,
Kosovo,etc) of the 1990's thru 2003 (or thereabouts), the Germans
needed to lease transport aircraft from Ukraine in order to carry
German troops to Yugoslavia.  Can you provide me with specifics on
this or was I merely imagining it?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 22 Apr 2004 19:26 PDT

racole-ga,

A German envoy was killed in a helicopter crash in Bosnia, and the
copter had be leased (by Germany,I believe, though it could have been
by the UN as well) from the Ukraine.

Could this be the incident you recall?  If so, I'd be more than happy
to provide full details of the incident.

Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 24 Apr 2004 03:46 PDT

In addtion, I found the following: 

- A statement by the Germans that they have no transporters for heavy
machinery, therefore leasing from the Ukraine (but on the context of
the Afghanistan campaign).

- Information on the UN leasing heavy transporters from the Ukraine
during the Yugoslav wars.

Would you like these (and more information I could find) as an answer?

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Clarification of Question by racole-ga on 24 Apr 2004 06:29 PDT

I have vague recollections that the Germans were not able to send
troops to the conflict in former Yugoslavia because they had no heavy
lift capability.  They leased large transport planes from Ukraine. 
Leater, when they wanted to send additional troops they were unable to
do so because it was the Christmas card rush in Ukraine and the
Ukraine post office needed the planes, so there were no planes
available.  Further German deployment had to wait until aftr
Christmas.

I don't think it would be unusual. For their operations in
Afghanistan, the British Government leased aircrfat from Russia,
Latvia and the Ukraine.
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020502/text/20502w19.htm
answerfinder-ga