Poland has transferred first MiG fighter jets to Ukraine, says presidential aide

Poland has already transferred the first of the MiG-29 fighter jets it is donating to Ukraine to support its defence against Russian aggression, says an aide to President Andrzej Duda.

“A few MiGs have already been sent,” Marcin Przydacz, head of the president’s International Policy Office, told RMF FM this morning.

Asked to clarify if he was talking about Polish MiGs or those from Slovakia – which two weeks ago became the first country to donate MiGs to Ukraine – Przydacz said: “We’re talking about Polish [MiGs]. According to my information, this process of transferring the first part [of the promised MiGs] has already finished.”

“During the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Poland [on Wednesday this week], there will certainly be talks about further support,” added Przydacz.

He also appealed to Poland’s NATO allies to “deliver equipment [to Ukraine] in much greater numbers and much faster, so that Ukraine can repel Russia…and defend the stability of us all”.

On 16 March, Duda made the surprise announcement that Poland would be “handing over four [MiG-29] aircraft in full working order” to Ukraine “in the coming days”. Two days earlier, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had said the process would take four to six weeks.

Slovakia then joined Poland in pledging to also donate some of its Soviet-era MiGs, making them the first two countries to provide Ukraine with fighter jets during the ongoing war. Last week Ukraine confirmed that the first Slovakian jets were already flying combat missions in the Kharkiv region.

Kyiv has repeatedly appealed to its allies to transfer fighter jets. While MiGs are seen as the most immediately useful, as Ukrainian pilots are already trained in their use, Ukraine also wants US-made F-16s, though Joe Biden has so far ruled out supplying the jets.

A few days after Duda’s announcement, Britain’s armed forces minister announced that the UK was willing to help Poland fill the gaps created by its transfer of MiGs to Ukraine, though he noted that Warsaw had not yet made such a request.

Russia, meanwhile, condemned Warsaw’s move, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that it would “bring additional woes for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people” and warning that “all this equipment will be subject to destruction during the special military operation”.

Because the MiG-29s being donated by Poland are German-made, some commenters have noted that their re-export to Ukraine would need Berlin’s permission, as was the case when Poland transferred Leopard tanks. There has been no public confirmation that Poland has sought or received such permission.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.