WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland’s president said on Thursday his country plans to give Ukraine about a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, making it the first NATO member to comply with Ukraine’s government’s increasingly urgent demands fighter planes met.
President Andrzej Duda said Poland will hand over four of the Soviet-made fighter jets “within the next few days” and the rest will have to be serviced and delivered later. The Polish word he used to describe the total number can mean between 11 and 19.
“They are in their last few years of being operational, but they are in good operating condition,” Duda said of the aircraft.
He didn’t say if other countries would follow suit, although Slovakia has said it will send its retired MiGs to Ukraine. Poland was also the first NATO country to provide Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
On Wednesday, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said some other countries had also promised MiGs to Kiev, but he did not name them. Both Poland and Slovakia had indicated they were ready to hand over their planes, but only as part of a broader international coalition doing the same.
The German government seems to have been surprised by Duda’s announcement. “So far, everyone agrees that it is not the time to send fighter jets,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters. “I still have no confirmation from Poland that this happened.”
Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine had several dozen MiG-29s, which it inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed, but it’s unclear how many of these remain in service after more than a year of combat.
Debate over whether to supply non-NATO country Ukraine with fighter jets began last year, but NATO allies have expressed concerns about an escalation of the alliance’s role in the war. The hesitation continued even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made increasingly vocal requests for Western supporters to share their fighter jets.
Duda announced this during a joint press conference in Warsaw with visiting Czech President Petr Pavel.
Duda said the Polish Air Force will replace the planes it is giving to Ukraine with South Korean-made FA-50 fighters and American-made F-35s.
Poland provided crucial support to Ukraine during the war. It is home to thousands of American troops and has taken in more Ukrainians than any other nation during the refugee exodus sparked by the Russian invasion.
The central European nation endured centuries of Russian invasions and occupations, and despite being a NATO member, still fears Russia.
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