(WAND) - Russia has sent medical aid to the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBC News reports the country filled a large An-124 cargo plane - the largest aircraft in the Russian military - with medical supplies and sent it to the U.S. The plane left Moscow Wednesday morning.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered the supplies to America in a Monday phone call with President Donald Trump.
🇷🇺🇺🇸 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
Critics of this act by Russia are calling it a propaganda stunt. Russia is seeing mask shortages in its stores as cities go into lockdown and the nation continues dealing with a rising number of positive COVID-19 cases.
Russia had 2,337 cases and 17 deaths in the latest update from its health officials.
In the U.S., a top national doctor warned America could have as much as 240,000 deaths with strict social distancing measures. Without intervention, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said between 1.5 and 2.2 million people Americans die.
An NBC News tally found more than 3,860 people have died in the United States from COVID-19. Close to 187,000 people have been infected.
For the latest details about COVID-19 case numbers in Illinois, see this map.
