Poland, Slovakia become first Nato members to give Ukraine fighter jets

Both nations agreed to give some jets to Kyiv; Russia says the planes will be destroyed and outcome of ‘special military operation’ will not change

Ukraine’s president and military leadership have persistently pleaded for jets, to help in the fight against Putin’s invasion

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Polish MiG 29 fighter jets. File photo: AFP

Published: 5:30am, 17 Mar 2023Updated: 7:54pm, 17 Mar 2023

Slovakia’s government has approved a plan to give Ukraine its entire fleet of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the second Nato member country after Poland to agree to fulfil the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent pleas for warplanes to help defend against Russia’s invasion.

Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced the unanimous decision of his government on Friday. Slovakia grounded its fleet last year.

“Promises must be kept & when @ZelenskyyUa asked for more #weapons incl. fighter jets, I said we’ll do our best,” Heger tweeted, adding that military aid was key to ensuring Ukraine can “defend itself & the entire #Europe against #Russia”.

Poland said it plans to give Ukraine about a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets. Warsaw will hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes “within the next few days”, President Andrzej Duda said, and the rest needed servicing but would be supplied later. The Polish word he used to describe the total number can mean between 11 and 19.

The Kremlin said on Friday that fighter jets given to Ukraine by Poland and Slovakia would be destroyed, and reiterated that Western arms deliveries to Kyiv would not change Russia’s military aims.

“The supply of this military equipment, as we have repeatedly said, will not change the outcome of the special military operation … of course, all this equipment will be destroyed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, using the official term for Moscow’s military intervention.