Polish president does not rule out resolving issue of sending MiG-29s to Ukraine

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has said that Warsaw has not ruled out resolving the issue of sending MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Nawrocki said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that exchanging MiG-29 fighter jets for counter-drone systems would not contradict Poland's policy.

He added that he believes this matter will be settled once the formal issues are resolved.

Zelenskyy, for his part, explained why Ukraine needs Soviet-era fighter jets.

"When you are at war every day, there is a major shortage of pilots. Training and preparing a pilot takes years. And the issue is not that we do not have F-16s – you take an experienced pilot out of combat, send them abroad, and spend a year, sometimes eight months, sometimes a year and a half, before that pilot returns on an F-16," he said.

According to Zelenskyy, the difference between F-16s and MiG-29s for Ukraine lies solely in "not losing our pilots".

"There is no need to train on MiGs because our people are already trained. That was the request. The problem is not a shortage of aircraft; the problem is a shortage of pilots," the Ukrainian president added.

It was previously reported that Poland is discussing with Ukraine the supply of MiG-29 fighter jets in exchange for access to certain missile and drone technologies.

After that, Marcin Przydacz, head of the Bureau of the International Policy in the Polish President's Chancellery, said that President Nawrocki had not been informed of these intentions, which, Przydacz said, could indicate bad faith and another attempt to cut the president off from information important for the Polish state.

Nawrocki later confirmed that he had indeed not been informed about plans to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

However, the Polish government insists that Nawrocki could not have been unaware of the intentions to transfer MiG-29s to Ukraine, despite statements by the head of state and his aide.