Poland holds firm on MiG‑29 transfer amid Ukrainian pressure
Ukraine regularly requests that Poland transfer the remaining MiG-29 aircraft. Although Polish president Duda has clearly outlined the conditions under which this can happen, Ukraine criticizes Warsaw's decisions. The Ukrainian president has also addressed this issue.
Several hours after the Polish president declared that Poland cannot currently transfer the remaining MiG-29 planes to Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the matter.
During a meeting with local authorities in Zakarpattia, the President of Ukraine stated that the transfer of the MiG-29s had been agreed upon with the Polish authorities. The condition for delivering the planes was to have Poland's support through a NATO mission similar to the Baltic Air Policing program, under which NATO protects the airspace of the Baltic states.
According to Zelensky, NATO was supposed to declare additional support for Poland, which still has not transferred the planes. There is also no plan to intercept Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory, a measure Kyiv has long advocated for.
In the context of Zelensky's statements about NATO support for Poland, it is noteworthy that the Minister of National Defence recently mentioned unspecified air assistance from "Scandinavian friends."
The last MiG-29s of the Polish Air Force
Before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, in 2020, 28 of the MiG-29 fighter jets operated in Poland (out of 44 acquired) were considered airworthy. The Inspector of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jacek Pszczoła, informed at the time that Poland had a stock of parts for up to four more years of operation for the MiGs.
After the Russian attack, Poland handed over an unspecified number of these aircraft to Ukraine – currently, there are probably 14 MiG-29s in the Polish air force, which Ukraine is lobbying for transfer.
The operational life of Polish planes is gradually being exhausted, and the lack of access to spare parts means that the time of the last MiGs in Polish military aviation is coming to an end. These machines will be replaced by 32 FA-50 aircraft purchased from Korea in the final variant FA-50PL. The withdrawn MiGs are likely to be transferred to Ukraine in due course.
