The German government has allowed Poland to send Soviet-made fighter jets from the arsenals of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) to Ukraine, Der Spiegel magazine and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported this Thursday.
The decision was made in response to a request for permission made by the Polish authorities, and the executive branch of the Berlin coalition, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, gave its permission, although it has not yet officially confirmed it.
In 2002, Germany sold 22 MiG-29 fighters from the GDR to Poland, and the contract stipulated that Warsaw must ask permission from Berlin if it wanted to sell or give them away.
At the end of March, Jacek Severa, security adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, reported that Poland still had a dozen of these aircraft.
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German government sees no problem in sending these Soviet-made devices to Ukraine.
However, these aircraft only fill a gap in Ukrainian aviation resources, there is no qualitative leap that would occur only with the supply of Western-made aircraft, according to government sources quoted by the German newspaper.
Although this decision has not yet been officially announced, some members of the government coalition have already welcomed it.
“It is right that the government did not delay the decision, but made it the same day it received the Polish request,” Liberal Party (FDP) defense specialist Markus Faber said in statements to the weekly. magazine Der Spiegel.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia on the territory of Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million – to European countries – from the country, according to the latest data UN, which classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 18 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 has presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which entered its 414th day this Thursday, 8,490 civilians killed and 14,244 wounded, stressing that these numbers are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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