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Poland will hand over four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days, making the Eastern European country the first member of the NATO bloc to supply warplanes to Kyiv after months of pleading.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, made the announcement Thursday.
“We can say confidently that we are sending MiGs to Ukraine,” Duda said at a press conference in Warsaw.
“We have a dozen or so MiGs that we got in the 90s handed down from the German Democratic Republic and they are functional and play a part in the defense of our airspace.
“They are at the end of their operational life but are still functional.”
The president added that the first four planes “in full working order” will be handed to Ukraine in the next few days. Additional aircraft will be delivered after being “serviced and prepared for handover.”
On Tuesday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his government could send its MiGs “within the next four to six weeks.”
Polish leaders previously stressed that sending the fighter jets to Ukraine would be only done within a larger international coalition.
Slovakia has also expressed willingness to supply its MiG-29s to Kyiv but has stopped short of announcing a decision.
The two nations have been lobbying other NATO members to follow suit.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Thursday that the debate about sending fighter jets was ongoing.
