Germany has agreed for Poland to transfer to Ukraine another batch of MiG-29 aircraft previously bought by the government in Warsaw from stocks inherited by Berlin from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), Der Spiegel reports, citing sources close to the German government. .
DPA news agency reported earlier in the day that Olaf Scholz’s government intends to quickly decide on a permit for Poland after chief executive Mateusz Morawiecki made a formal request for it.
“The government wants to decide this Thursday whether to give Poland consent to the supply of Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit to German peacekeeping troops in Mali, located in the African country under the auspices of the United Nations.
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.
Jacek Siver, a security adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said in late March that about a dozen such fighters were 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
Last week, 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 purchased 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.
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Source: Hot News
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