Slovakia ready to give miG-29 jets to Ukraine but wants replacement

Slovakia is ready to discuss transferring its 11 MiG-29s to Kyiv in the near future.

Defense News reports, citing Sky News, that the remarks came from Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nagy.

Nagy added his country isn’t big enough to afford such gifts as warplanes to Ukraine.

Therefore, Slovakia is considering the option of replacing fighter jets with newer ones or selling them.

He said each MiG-29 is worth about € 35 million.

The minister made such comments during a joint news conference with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

The British minister welcomed Slovakia’s support to Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion and offered a word of caution to any state that might choose to hedge its bets.

“If you sit on the fence with President Putin he will in the end eat the fence and then eat you,” Wallace said.

While answering Sky News reporters about whether Slovakia would consider giving its MiG-29 jets to Ukraine, the Slovakian defence minister said the 11 jets were set to stop being operated by the Slovakian Air Force from the end of August, with Czech and Polish aircraft expected to take over protecting Slovakia’s air space from the start of September.

At the same time, he stressed that his country could not just give them away without replacement or monetary compensation.

“We are open to a discussion concerning those MiG-29s transferring to Ukraine, but certainly this will require, I would say, a broader discussion about taking into account financial aspects and all other aspects of delivery, so no decision has been made yet,” he stated.

As previously reported, on July 25, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that Ukraine can prepare its airfields for modern military aircraft.