By Jo Harper
WARSAW (AA) – Poland has delivered “almost all” its MiG-29 jet aircraft to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, where the Council of Europe summit is taking place, Duda said: “We are in the vanguard of countries, after the US and UK, when it comes to transferring arms to Ukraine.”
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said last week that Poland was ready to hand over the 10 MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine.
In April, Poland and Slovakia became the first Western countries to announce the shipment of 41 MiG-29s to Ukraine. Slovakia has sent 13 aircraft, including four in operational condition. Some of these aircraft will reportedly be used for spare parts. The planes were used by the Ukrainian air force before the start of the conflict.
There has been no decision to provide Ukraine with modern Western jets like F-16, Gripen, or F/A-18 Hornets.
Poland planned to transfer MiG-29s to Ukraine at the beginning of the war, with Warsaw suggesting it could hand over the planes to the US or NATO, who would then make the decision to move them to Ukraine.
The fighters served in the former East Germany during the Cold War and were inherited by the Bundeswehr – the German armed forces. In 2002, Germany sold them to Poland. In April, Germany accepted Poland's request to provide Ukraine with five of the Soviet-built fighters.
Poland plans to replace the aircraft with the purchase of 48 South Korean FA-50s and 32 US-produced F-35A Lightning IIs.