German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius rejected the possibility of delivering German fighter jets to Ukraine during Friday’s meeting of Western allies held at the American Ramstein Air Base (Germany), DPA reports with reference to Agerpres.

Germany can still provide Ukrainian pilots with planes that they can quickly fly and maintain on the ground, Boris Pistorius said during negotiations on the coordination of arms supplies to Ukraine.

“It’s not like exchanging one rental car for another,” he added, referring to the differences between the two countries’ fighter jets.

The German Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft have different capabilities than those needed by Ukraine, the German minister noted.

Berlin allowed Poland to supply MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine

Last week, Germany agreed for Poland to hand over to Ukraine another batch of five MiG-29 fighter jets, previously bought by the government in Warsaw from stocks inherited by Berlin from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

In 2002, Germany sold Poland 23 MiG-29 fighter jets, which the Bundeswehr had inherited from the armed forces of the GDR, a communist satellite state created by the Soviet Union in eastern Germany after World War II.

According to Andrzej Duda, security adviser to the Polish president, about a dozen such fighters are still in service with the Polish Air Force.

As with Leopard 2 tanks or other military equipment, contracts for the sale of German-made weapons usually require the Berlin government to agree to a possible transfer to a third party.

The first MiG-29s promised to Ukraine arrived in the country last month

Earlier this month, Polish President Duda said his country had delivered eight MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, but German media reported that none of them were part of a batch of planes bought from the Bundeswehr two decades ago.

Ukraine received the first MiG-29 aircraft promised by its partners on March 23, but it was delivered by Slovakia, not Poland.

The government in Bratislava announced on March 17, a day after the government in Warsaw, that it would transfer the remaining MiG-29s to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Classified US documents leaked online in recent days also show that Bulgaria has expressed its willingness to provide Ukraine with its fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, consisting of a squadron of 16 aircraft, although it has not made any official statements on the matter.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Bulgarian socialists, traditionally closer to Russia, blocked military aid to the Ukrainian army requested by former pro-Western Prime Minister Kyril Petkov, but Bulgaria still secretly sent weapons, ammunition and fuel to Ukraine through intermediaries.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro