Poland’s President Andrzej Duda pledged four MiG-29 fighter jets to help Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. The announcement would make Poland the first member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), meeting the Ukrainian government’s growing need for warplanes. This is just another addition to the list of how Poland is going out of its way to help war-torn Ukraine.
Despite the threat of a similar invasion hanging over its head, Poland has been helping Ukraine from the very first minutes of the war. The country is host to thousands of US troops and has taken in more refugees from the conflict in Ukraine than any other country during Europe’s most significant refugee crisis in several years.
Last month, Poland became the first NATO country to provide German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Duda said, “When it comes to the MiG-29 aircraft, which are still serving in the defense of Polish airspace, a decision has been made at the highest level, we can say with confidence that we will give the MiG Sending to Ukraine.
“We have a dozen or more MiGs that were handed over to us from the German Democratic Republic in the 90s and they are functional and play a role in the defense of our airspace. They are at the end of their operational life but still functional are,” Duda said.
The President announced that the country would hand over four aircraft in the coming days ukraine After more servicing.
“In the coming days we will hand over four aircraft to Ukraine, the remaining machines are being serviced and prepared for handover. We will replace them with the delivery of South Korean FA-50s and American F-35s,” the Polish president said.
The Polish president did not talk about other countries providing military support to Ukraine, but some reports claim that Slovakia is also considering a similar move to provide unused MiGs to Ukraine.
Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to Western backers to provide fighter jets, NATO allies have been reluctant to do so. Prior to the full-scale invasion by Russia, Ukraine had a few dozen MiG-29s inherited from the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is not clear how many of them are still operational after more than a year of the war.
Discussions about whether or not to supply Ukraine (a non-NATO country) with fighters began a year ago, but NATO has been hesitant to do so for fear of escalating the conflict.
Duda was speaking at a news conference alongside his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel. “The Czech Republic and Poland are the countries that have spoken of supporting Ukraine, both at the humanitarian and military levels,” he said.
(with inputs from AP)
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