Slovak Planes Soar Over Ukrainian Skies. Or Do They?

Slovakia has completed the transfer of all 13 MiG-29 jet fighter planes that it pledged to Ukraine in March, according to Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nagy.

Nagy posted the news on Twitter this morning.

“All 13 Slovak MIG-29 have been safely handed over to Ukrainian Air Force. Proud to be on the right side, doing the right thing to help protect lives. We Stand with Ukraine,” the defense minister wrote.

The Slovak planes come at the same time that Poland has promised up to 14 of its MiG-29s. During President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Poland in early April, President Andrzej Duda of Poland said that four planes had thus far been transferred, four more were in transit, and six more were being prepared for transfer.

However, the Polish and Slovak planes being given to Ukraine are in different conditions, as reported by Kyiv Post last week. Some have new communications equipment and have been upgraded to NATO standards; some are essentially not air-worthy and can only be used for spare parts.

Poland has previously said that it is ready to send all its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “in the future,” having already pledged 14 Soviet-made planes to Kyiv. President Duda made this commitment at a joint press conference with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky during the April 5 visit.

“I think that in the future we will be able to transfer our whole remaining fleet of MiG-29s to Ukraine, if there is still such a need,” Duda said of the 28 MiG-29 jets in Poland’s possession.

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On April 11, Germany gave the green light for more of the Polish planes – originally of East German provenance and modified to NATO standards – to be transferred.

Slovakia and Poland are the first Ukrainian allies that have provided jet fighter planes – a total of 27 MiG-29s in different adaptations and suitability for combat.

On several occasions in the last month, Ukrainian officials have indicated that the success of Ukraine’s upcoming offensive to re-take Russian-occupied areas is reliant on appropriate equipment from Western allies being in place.