Poland’s president said on Thursday his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, making it the first NATO member to meet increasingly urgent requests for fighter jets. of the Ukrainian government.
President Andrzej Duda said Poland would deliver four of the Soviet-made fighter jets «within the next few days» and the rest needed maintenance and would be delivered later. The Polish word he used to describe his number can mean between 11 and 19.
“They are in the last few years of operation but are in good working order,” Duda said of the aircraft.
Duda did not say whether other countries would follow suit, although Slovakia has said it would send its disused MiGs to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said other countries with MiGs had also promised them to kyiv, but he did not name them.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Western supporters to share fighter jets, NATO allies have expressed doubts.
Before the full-scale invasion of Russia, Ukraine had several dozen MiG-29s that it inherited with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it’s unclear how many of these remain in service after more than a year of fighting.
Debate over whether to provide fighter jets to non-NATO Ukraine began more than a year ago, but NATO has been wary of escalating the war.
Duda made the announcement during a joint press conference in Warsaw with visiting Czech President Petr Pavel.
Duda said Poland’s air force would replace the planes it gives Ukraine with South Korean-made FA-50 fighters and US-made F-35s.
Poland was also the first NATO nation to deliver German-built Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine last month.
Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis. It is hosting thousands of US troops and is hosting more people fleeing the war in Ukraine than any other nation, amid Europe’s biggest refugee crisis in decades.
It has suffered invasions and occupations by Russia for centuries and still fears Russia despite being a member of NATO.