Bratislava will deliver 13 Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, the prime minister said on Friday, with Slovakia becoming the second NATO country after Poland to make such a decision, with Moscow indicating that these devices will be “destroyed”.
“We will hand over 13 of our MiG-29s to Ukraine,” Eduard Heger told reporters, adding that this move was “fully coordinated with Poland and Ukraine.”
“At least three aircraft will be used to supply spare parts,” the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces, General Daniel Zmeko, told the press.
The head of government added that his country would also deliver the Koub air defense system to kyiv.
Transporting the devices “will take a few weeks,” said Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad.
The Kremlin immediately denounced the “increasing involvement” of NATO countries in the conflict with kyiv.
“The delivery of this military equipment, as we have repeated many times, cannot affect the outcome” of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press. “Of course, this equipment will be destroyed,” he added.
On Thursday, Warsaw announced the delivery “in the coming days” of a first batch of four MiG-29 fighter-bombers to Ukraine.
“In the coming days, we will first transfer […] four fully operational aircraft to Ukraine,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters.
kyiv has repeatedly asked its Western allies to send it modern fighter-bombers, hoping to get American F-16s.
The Polish decision “does not change anything”, however, to the American refusal to do the same, assured John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House shortly after.
“It does not change our analysis. […] It’s not on the table,” he told reporters, recalling that President Joe Biden had publicly opposed the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine.
Reacting to Warsaw’s announcement, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said: “MiGs won’t solve problems, we need F-16s. But the MiGs will help strengthen our capabilities.”