BRATISLAVA: Slovakia will contribute 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, the Slovak prime minister said on Friday, making it the second member of NATO to announce warship planes following a similar move by Poland.
“We will supply 13 of our MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Slovak prime minister Eduard Heger told journalists. He said that Bratislava would also deliver a Kub air defence system to Ukraine.
“We are giving these MiGs to Ukraine so that it can protect civilians against the many bombs that fall on their houses and which are the reason why people are dying in Ukraine,” Heger said.
Ukraine has long requested warship planes from Western allies, seeking primarily modern US-made F-16s jets.
“Our steps are completely coordinated with Ukraine and Poland,” Heger said, adding that his government “stands on the right side of history.”
He said Slovakia would receive compensation for the donation from the European Peace Facility, the EU’s Ukraine fund.
“There is also a bilateral offer from the US regarding a particular military system to be donated to Slovakia whose value for the Slovak Republic will be approximately $700 million,” Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said without providing details.
“We are talking about 900 million (euros) altogether,” he added.
Russia vows to destroy Poland and Slovakia’s jets
In response on Friday, the Kremlin said Poland and Slovakia would destroy the fighter jets given to Ukraine. It repeated that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine would not change Russian military aims.
“The supply of this military equipment will not change the outcome of the special military offensive. Of course, all this military equipment will be destroyed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, using the official term for Moscow’s military intervention.
Polish President Andrzej Duda announced on Thursday that Warsaw would send four Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “in the coming days.”
Fellow staunch Ukraine ally Estonia on Friday applauded the decision to send warplanes.
“Slovakia and Poland show great leadership by sending requested fighter jets to Ukraine,” defence ministry of Estonia said on Twitter.
“We need to do more to support Ukraine win and defeat the aggressor,” it added.
Nad said the transfer of MiG-29 jets from Slovakia to Ukraine will take “a couple of weeks.”
The Slovak batch will include ten operational MiG-29 fighter jets and three additional ones that have not been operational since 2008.
“At least three fighter jets will only be used for spare parts,” General Daniel Zmeko, chief of the Slovak armed forces general staff, told reporters.
Slovakia also has one other MiG-29 jet that will be placed in a military museum.
The country plans to replace the fighter jets with American F-16s jets. The changeover should take place by January 2024.
Slovakia stopped using its MiGs last year since they depended on Russian technicians and companies.
The Czech Republic and Poland have since been protecting their airspace.
