Slovakia Ready to Transfer 11 MiG-29 Planes to Ukraine for a Price

Slovakia is ready to transfer 11 MiG-29 jets worth about €35 million each, for a price to be negotiated between itself and countries supporting Kyiv.

The country’s intent to sell its MiG-29s to Ukraine was revealed by defense minister Jaroslav Nagy during a joint news conference with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, reports say.

Slovakia’s MiG-29 fleet has a mix of AS single-seaters and UBS two-seaters. It signed a deal in 2018 to buy 14 F-16 Block 70 aircraft from the U.S. company Lockheed Martin. The aircraft are expected to begin arriving in 2024. 

While answering Sky News reporters about whether Slovakia would consider giving its MIG-29 jets to Ukraine, Nagy 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.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed the deployment of the country’s air force to patrol Slovakia’s air space on July 3.

“The Czech Air Force will temporarily protect the skies over Slovakia from September. It is a beautiful example of trust and cooperation. We’ll be happy to do that. We are prepared technically and in terms of capacity,” he wrote on Twitter. “We cannot allow Slovakia, as a country on the border of a war conflict, to be endangered in any way.”

Nagy stressed that his country “isn’t big enough to afford such gifts as warplanes to Ukraine.”

He added, “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.”

An offer by Poland to transfer its MiG-29s to Ukraine in return for NATO’s protection of its air space was turned down by the U.S.