Poland is ready to hand over its Air Force’s Soviet-designed Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine as part of an international alliance, the country’s President Andriy Duda said.

“We are ready to hand over these aircraft and I am sure that Ukraine will be ready to use them immediately,” Mr. Duda told the American television network CNN, the Polish public news agency PAP reported yesterday.

For the future, it is important to train as many Ukrainian pilots as possible on the American-made F-16 fighters, the Polish president added during his visit to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The scenario for the Polish MiG-29s already started some time after the invasion of the Ukrainian territory by the Russian army on February 24, 2022. According to Polish military experts, the country’s Air Force has about 30 fighters of the type, serving in the eastern wing of NATO. Most belonged to the former East Germany.

Mr. Duda did not want to go into details about the international alliance he spoke of. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called a NATO decision a prerequisite during the Munich Security Conference last month.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said Washington would certainly not discourage its allies from supplying Ukraine with fighter jets.

After an alliance was formed with the participation of Germany to provide the Ukrainian army with Western heavy tanks, Kiev does not stop asking for fighter jets. Like Poland, Slovakia has made it clear that it is willing to hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, provided there is an agreement on this with its European partners.

However, the question that still remains to be answered is how these fighters will be replaced if what Berlin has dubbed a “circular” exchange of weapons systems is chosen.