Zelenskyy: We agreed with NATO, but Poland finds another reason not to send MiG-29s
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine agreed with NATO to send allied aircraft to Poland so that Warsaw could hand over old MiG-29 fighters to Kyiv. But it was not yet accomplished, says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference in the Zakarpattia region.
“We have good neighborly relations with Poland. There are various challenges, and we have constantly asked them to shoot down missiles heading towards Poland. There we have Stryi, gas storage facilities, the country depends on this gas supply, our lives,” he said.
Ukraine asked Poland to protect Stryi, as Ukraine does not have a sufficient number of systems to protect the gas storage facility.
“What do the Poles do? Do they shoot down? No. The Poles said they are ready to shoot down if they are not alone in this decision, if NATO supports them,” the president said.
Zelenskyy said he had agreed with former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Poland would receive a police mission. “These are NATO aircraft. We really wanted to get MiGs from Poland, but they could not give us them because they did not have enough of their own. That's why we agreed with NATO that they would give them a police mission, like our Baltic friends have,” he said.
“We agreed on this. And what happened after that? Did Poland give us aircraft? No. Did they find another reason? Yes. Did other countries unite around Poland and say, 'Since we are neighbors, we will shoot down both with aircraft and air defense systems'? No. When they decided not to shoot down these missiles with MiGs, we asked them to give us MiGs, they will be stationed somewhere in western Ukraine and will shoot them down,” Zelenskyy said.
Polish MiG-29s
Poland's Charge d'Affaires in Ukraine, Piotr Łukasiewicz said that Poland would "feel unprotected" if it gave Ukraine at least ten MiG-29s. Warsaw is currently carrying out a large-scale transformation of its air force, purchasing F-16 and F-35 aircraft from partners.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz says that Warsaw will be able to hand over the MiG-29 aircraft only after receiving new fighters ordered from the allies.
Polish President Andrzej Duda says that Poland is ready to hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, provided that NATO allies guarantee the security of the country's airspace until Warsaw receives the new aircraft.
