delivery of weapons
Poland will soon deliver four fighter jets to Ukraine
A Polish Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet at an air show. photo
© Michael Walczak/PAP/dpa
The government in Ukraine has been demanding fighter jets from the West in the war against Russia for some time. Warsaw is now making the start – another country is also ready to deliver.
According to President Andrzej Duda, Poland wants to hand over four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days.
More MiG-29s are currently being serviced and prepared for later transfer, Duda said in Warsaw after meeting Czech President Petr Pavel. The country’s leadership made a corresponding decision, and the government then passed a resolution.
Duda further said that the Polish Air Force currently has about a dozen MiG-29s, which were taken over from East Germany’s stocks in the early 1990s. “They continue to be in full service as working MiGs for our anti-aircraft defence.” The machines handed over to Ukraine are to be replaced by modern fighter jets, which Poland ordered from South Korea and the USA.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda welcomed the announcement. “This is an important development that will significantly strengthen Ukraine’s fight against the aggressor,” he wrote on Twitter.
Slovakia also wants to deliver fighter jets
The discussion about the Polish MiG-29s had already arisen in 2022 shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last week, Duda said his country wanted to hand over the MiG-29 to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. However, he did not provide any further information about this coalition.
At the Munich Security Conference in February, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki named a NATO decision as a prerequisite. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said his country would not stop others from supplying fighter jets. In addition to Poland, Slovakia is also ready to surrender its MiG-29s in consultation with European partners.