Former Slovak defense minister unveils nuances of MiG-29 transfer to Ukraine in 2023

By providing the Ukrainian Defense Forces with MiG-29 fighters, Slovakia “opened the door” for other NATO allies to make similar decisive steps in military assistance to Kyiv.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Jaroslav Nad, former Slovak Defense Minister (2020-2023), who was responsible for the transfer of combat aircraft.

"It was a good decision. I'm proud of that," Nad said. "I think that the first step with MiG-29s was the most important one to actually open the door for others, and it helped."

He added that Slovakia had discussed this step with several allies, including Poland, " with whom we actually agreed, because we had MiG-29s and they had MiG-29s".

Recalling the nuances of organizing the transfer of fighter jets in 2023, Nad reported that Slovakia had nearly a dozen such aircraft, four of which were fully operational, and others needed some repair before performing tasks.

"There were discussions whether we should fly them to Ukraine or go with ground transportation. It was not only a question of technical status but also political. Would it be okay if we fly over Ukrainian territory those Slovak, NATO supersonic jets? So we made arrangements, political arrangements, diplomatic arrangements. It took a while. And we have also invited Ukrainian pilots and technicians to come to Slovakia to look at those MiG-29s to service them, to make some repairs. So in the end four flew into Ukraine and a lot were delivered by ground. Those four were actually with Ukrainian pilots flying them," the former head of the Ministry of Defense told Ukrinform.

As reported, the Norwegian government will allocate 1.3 billion Norwegian kroner (over $118.2 million) for the purchase of the necessary equipment and weapons for F-16 fighters. Ukraine will receive the planes before year-end.

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans stressed that Ukraine can use the F-16 fighters handed over by the Netherlands against targets inside Russia for defense purposes in accordance with international law.

Photo: Ján Macik