President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky this Thursday officially asked Slovakia to transfer Russian MiG-29 fighter jets to Kyiv, Slovak media reported.
“We have launched a working mission to convey to our partners the message that it is extremely important to have aircraft that meet Western and MiG standards. [caças soviético]”, Zelensky stressed in Brussels after a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger.
“I sent a request to the Prime Minister. [eslovaco] help us in this matter, and I firmly believe that this can happen,” the President of Ukraine added, without specifying details.
Slovakia has a fleet of 14 MiG-29 fighters but has not used them since last summer due to a lack of aircraft maintenance, which was carried out by a Russian organization.
“The use of aircraft will endanger the lives of the pilots,” Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad recently warned.
On Thursday, Heger expressed readiness to deliver the planes to Kyiv “in the interests of European security.”
“[A Ucrânia] This is not just our neighbor, but also our friend. And it is in our interests and in the interests of European security to help her. We will study your request, but you can count on our help,” the head of the Slovak government stressed.
If she grants Kyiv’s request, Bratislava will send no pilots, only planes.
This fleet of Soviet fighters should be ready by 2024, when 14 new F-16 fighters from American manufacturer Lockheed Martin will arrive.
Until then, Slovak airspace will be controlled by Jas-39 Gripen fighters of the Czech Air Force.
Western countries have so far resisted providing Ukraine with air assets, but France and the UK do not rule out this hypothesis, which Zelensky defends.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said late Wednesday that “nothing is out of the question” in terms of delivering fighter jets to Ukraine, but stressed that strengthening air defenses and long-range missiles is a priority.
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not rule out that Warsaw could supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets “in agreement with NATO countries,” despite the restraint of US President Joe Biden.
Other allies have said they are ready to do so, including the Netherlands, which has begun replacing its fleet of F-16s with F-35s.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced people and more than eight million to European countries – according to the latest UN figures. which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented 7,155 civilian deaths and 11,662 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, stressing that these figures are far from real.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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