Add Category
Slovakia on Friday became the second of Ukraine's allies to say it will provide Ukraine with MiG-29 fighter jets, which Kyiv believes are crucial to repel Russia's year-long invasion.
Key points:
- Slovakia will send those of its MiG-29 fighter jets that are operational to Ukraine, and the rest for spare parts
- Kyiv believes fighter jets are crucial to repel Russia's invasion, but Western countries have so far been reluctant to provide them
- The Kremlin responded on Friday to news of the donation, saying the jets would be destroyed
Slovakia joins Poland, which announced its delivery of the planes on Thursday. Both NATO members border Ukraine.
Slovakia's fleet of 11 MiG-29 planes was retired last summer, and most of them are not in operational condition. It will send those that are operational and the rest will go for spare parts.
It will also supply part of its KUB air-defence system, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said.
"Today, the government decided and unanimously approved an international agreement [on the donation]," Mr Heger said.
"The process of handing over these fighter jets is closely coordinated with the Polish side, with Ukraine and, of course, with other allies."
Slovakia will receive financial compensation from the European Union as part of the agreement. It has also reached a deal with the United States on deliveries of military material worth around $US700 million ($1.04 billion), Mr Heger said.
Mr Heger's government is ruling in a caretaker capacity until early elections set for September, which made the opposition and some members of the ruling coalition question whether the cabinet is permitted to make such decisions.
Mr Heger said that law experts which his government consulted all said that the move was legally sound.
NATO allies in the former communist east, such as Poland and Slovakia, have been particularly vocal supporters of Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year.
Western countries that have provided Ukraine with arms, however, have so far declined to send fighter jets.
Slovakia ordered F-16 fighter jets from the United States in 2018 to replace the ageing MiG-29 planes. The first US-made planes are expected to arrive in 2024 after a delay.
The Kremlin responded on Friday to news of the jets' donation, saying all fighter jets supplied to Ukraine by Western nations would be destroyed without changing the course of the war.
Russia has accused the West of directly participating in the conflict through supplying weapons to Ukraine, and has previously warned that NATO weapons are legitimate targets for its forces.
"In the course of the special military operation all this equipment will be subject to destruction," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"It feels like all of these countries are thus engaged in the disposal of old unnecessary equipment," he said.
Russia decorates pilots who downed US drone over Black Sea
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu presented awards to the pilots of two Su-27 fighter planes that intercepted a US drone on Tuesday, his ministry said.
The drone crashed into the Black Sea after being intercepted by the Russian jets, in the first known direct military encounter between Russia and the United States since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.
Announcing the awards, the ministry repeated Russia's version of events — disputed by Washington — that the Russian planes did not make physical contact with the drone.
"As a result of sharp manoeuvring around 9:30am [Moscow time], the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface," it said.
The ministry said the drone had been flying with its transponders turned off and violating airspace restrictions that Russia had made public in connection with what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
The US military says the Russian fighter planes approached its MQ-9 Reaper drone during a reconnaissance mission over the Black Sea in international airspace.
It says the fighters harassed the drone and sprayed fuel on it in an encounter lasting 30 to 40 minutes before one of the jets clipped the drone's propeller, causing it to crash into the sea.
The Pentagon on Thursday released a 40-second edited video showing a Russian fighter jet coming close to a US military drone in the air, dumping fuel near it, and a damaged propeller in the aftermath.
Reuters