Slovakia are ready to send MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine as Kyiv has formally requested the planes, but “no decision has been taken yet.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Rastislav Káčer said that this has been discussed with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Káčer told Interfax-Ukraine, “We still have not handed MIG-29s to you.
“We are ready to do it. We talk to our partners in NATO about how to do it. And today, we had a very substantial discussion with your president.
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“My defense minister explained to your president how we could do it. And I suppose, in the following weeks, your delegation will be coming to Slovakia, and we will work jointly with our American friends to make it a reality.”
The head of the Foreign Ministry said on 7 December, Slovakia has approved “a couple of 1000s of missiles used for MIG 29.”
Káčer added, “But we also discussed with President Zelensky quite in detail. And I think I need to keep some secrecy about how this will be done, not to threaten it.
“But today, we had a very, very good exchange with President Zelensky about how we will do it.
“So I’m very optimistic that also will be made soon, will be coming to Ukraine.”
The British Prime Minister has tasked the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to “actively” look at what fighter jets can be sent to Ukraine to fight against Russia, although it is highly unlikely this will happen.
Zelensky has asked the UK for fighter jets and the Prime Minister said last week that there are plans to train Ukrainian fighter pilots so they can learn to fly sophisticated NATO standard jets.
Downing Street confirmed that they will not be sending any jets immediately which will part of a “long term solution” for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said, “The Prime Minister has tasked the Defence Secretary with investigating what jets we might be able to give but to be clear, this is a long-term solution, rather than a short-term capability, which is what Ukraine needs most now.”
He added, “I think you can see from the steps that we are taking that we are willing to put Ukraine in the position where, once we have reached the goals of training pilots, they are able to fly these type of jets.
“What we have not made a decision on is whether we send UK fighter jets. Obviously there is an ongoing discussion among other countries about their own fighter jets, some of which are more akin to what Ukrainian pilots are used to.”
Rishi Sunak’s spokesman continued, “We’ve confirmed there will be a training programme for Ukrainian pilots and the Defence Secretary is actively looking at whether we send jets.”
