The Slovak government has approved sending Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced on Friday, stepping up military aid to Kiev.
Reuters reports that the fleet of 11 MiG-29 aircraft was withdrawn last summer, most of which are not in operational condition.
Slovakia thereby joins Poland, which announced on Thursday that it would send four Soviet-made Mig-29 fighters to Ukraine in the coming days.
“As a first step, we are going to send (…) four fully operational aircraft to Ukraine in the coming days,” Andrzej Duda told reporters, adding that other fighter jets had to be checked and would be sent later.
The Polish president made the announcement during a joint press conference in Warsaw with the head of state of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel.
On Wednesday, Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said some other countries that possessed MiGs had also pledged them to Kiev, but he did not specify which countries they would be.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked his Western allies to send fighter jets, but NATO countries hesitated.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin spokesman has already responded to Poland and Slovakia sending fighter jets to Ukraine, saying the planes will be destroyed and Western arms deliveries to Kiev will not change Russia’s military objectives.
“The delivery of this military equipment – as we have repeatedly said – will not change the outcome of the special military operation… Of course, all this equipment will be destroyed,” Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Source: DN
