Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky officially requested Slovakia this Thursday to hand over its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Kiev, Slovak media reported.
“We have started a working mission to inform our partners that it is crucial to have aircraft with Western and MiG standards [caças soviéticos]Zelensky stressed in Brussels, after a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger.
“I have sent a request to the Prime Minister [eslovaco] to help us in this matter and I firmly believe that it can happen,” the Ukrainian president added, without giving further details.
Slovakia has a fleet of 14 MiG-29 fighters, but has not used them since last summer due to lack of aircraft maintenance, work carried out by a Russian entity.
“Using the aircraft would endanger the lives of the pilots,” Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad recently warned.
Heger, on the other hand, today expressed his willingness to deliver the planes to Kiev, “in the interest of European security”.
“[A Ucrânia] It’s not just our neighbor, but our friend. And it is in our interest, and in the interest of European security, to help her. We will study your request, but you can count on our help,” the head of the Slovak government stressed.
If it accepts Kiev’s request, Bratislava would not send pilots, only planes.
This fleet of Soviet fighters should be operational in 2024, when the 14 new F-16 fighters from American manufacturer Lockheed Martin arrive.
Until then, the Czech Air Force’s Jas-39 Gripen fighters will guard Slovak airspace.
Western countries have so far resisted providing air assets to Ukraine, but France and the United Kingdom have not ruled out this hypothesis, which has been defended by Zelensky.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stressed on Wednesday evening that “nothing is out of the question” regarding the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine, but stressed that the priority was to strengthen air defenses and long-range missiles.
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not rule out the possibility of Warsaw supplying F-16 fighter jets to Kiev “in consultation with NATO countries”, despite US President Joe Biden’s reluctance.
Other allies have said they are ready, including the Netherlands, which has started replacing its F-16 fleet with F-35s.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than eight million to European countries – according to the most recent data from the UN. which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 7,155 civilian deaths and 11,662 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
