Poland explains when it could donate rest of MiG jets to Ukraine

Poland will be able to hand over to Ukraine the rest of its MiG-29 fighter jets still in service with the Air Force once it has filled the gaps in air defense that this transfer would cause.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Poland’s Charge d’affaires in Ukraine, Piotr Lukasiewicz.

As the diplomat noted, Warsaw is currently preparing various aid packages for Ukraine.

"Poland has already donated spare parts and Mig 29 airplanes in the past two years. Poland actually was the first to call on allies to donate something heavier than Javelins. I mean, tanks, Mig-29s, and older airplanes. So the question right now is how to ensure gap fillers, this is a military term," Lukasiewicz emphasized.

He noted that Poland still has about 10-15 such aircraft in service, being used as an integral part of the air defense system. As of today, Warsaw is going through out a large-scale transformation of the Air Force, buying up new aircraft from partners, including F-16s and F-35s.

"But still we are in the middle of this process so we cannot afford losing even those 10 Mig-29s because we would feel unprotected, our sky would be unprotected. What we are trying to do, having the strategic goal of supporting Ukraine in mind, we are trying to call on our allies, either on bilateral or allied way, to help us fill the gaps that the transfer of Migs would create. Basically, it means that that our allies should send some squadrons of other airplanes to Poland to give us the time to build our own capacity in this sense, so we can transfer the Migs that are so much needed by Ukrainian pilots," the diplomat emphasized.

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland on July 8 in Warsaw signed a security agreement between Ukraine and Poland. In envisages exploring the possibility of transferring a MiG-29 squadron given this does not affect the security of Poland and the operational capabilities of the Polish Air Force.

At that time, during a press conference in Warsaw, Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine was counting on these Soviet-era warplanes, which have been upgraded in line with NATO standards. In turn, Tusk noted that he could not name the exact date of their future transfer to Ukraine, as they are currently still performing duty missions in NATO airspace.

Subsequently, during a visit to Kyiv, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Radosław Sikorski, noted that Warsaw can hand over its MiGs to Ukraine once the allies help the Polish side in performing the Air Policing mission over Poland.