Poland prepared to transfer its remaining MiG-29 jets to Ukraine
MiG-29 fighter aircraft (Photo:Coert van Breda via Wikipedia)
Poland is ready to hand over all of its MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with CNN on March 8.
“...the remaining part of the MiG-29s which we have in Poland, which are operational, and which are now serving in our Air Force – we stand ready to provide those planes and I’m sure that Ukraine would be ready to use those planes instantly because Ukraine has got pilots able to operate those machines, right now,” Duda said.
The president noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to switch to NATO standards and will ultimately use Western jets like the F-16, so the Ukrainian pilots need training now.
At the same time, referring to his earlier conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he stressed that long-range artillery remains Kyiv’s top military necessity.
“Right now, long-range artillery is needed more, to repel the enemy and to avoid direct encounters,” Duda added.
“Because the Russians are trying to crush Ukraine, crush it with the weight of their armed forces, their numbers, and their equipment.”
On Feb. 18, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that the country is ready to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, but only as part of a wider international initiative.
On Feb. 17, Duda said that Ukrainian forces would need fighter jets to repel threats from Russia. He said that the transfer of Soviet-era MiG-29s to Ukraine would provide support and, to a certain extent, help move towards force parity with Moscow.
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