After its Polish neighbor, Slovakia announced to deliver fighters to Ukraine on Friday March 17. The country will supply thirteen Soviet-designed MiG-29s to kyiv, becoming the second NATO country to make such a decision.
A move "fully coordinated with Poland and Ukraine," added Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger. "At least three aircraft will be used to provide spare parts," said the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces, General Daniel Zmeko. The head of government promised that his country would also deliver the Koub air defense system to kyiv. Transporting the aircraft "will take a few weeks," Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said.
Moscow immediately denounced an "increasing involvement" of NATO countries in the conflict with kyiv. "The delivery of this military equipment, as we have repeatedly said, cannot affect the outcome" of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Of course, this equipment will be destroyed," he added.
Four aircraft delivered by Poland
On Thursday, Warsaw announced the delivery "in the coming days" of a first batch of four MiG-29 fighter bombers to Ukraine. “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'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 Yuri Ihnat said: "MiGs won't solve problems, we need F-16s. But the MiGs will help strengthen our capabilities. »
