Poland to Hand Ukraine Two More MiG-29 Fighters After Months of Delay

Poland has decided to transfer two more MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, ending months in which the handover of its remaining Soviet-era jets was stalled by a failed exchange for Ukrainian drone technology. retired Lieutenant General Dariusz Łukowski, director of the Polish Ministry of National Defence’s Department of Strategy and Defence Planning, stated on October 29 that the jets would be delivered in the near future, saying: “The decision has been made, and two MiG-29s will be transferred.” The ministry confirmed a new aid package was being prepared but withheld its contents beyond saying it would include equipment leaving Polish service. The small number highlights how far the pool of donor MiG-29s in NATO has shrunk, with each airframe now significant as much as a source of parts for a fleet with no other supplier as for the sorties it can fly.

The decision follows the quiet delivery of 14 Polish MiG-29s to Ukraine in 2023, alongside 13 from Slovakia, which together kept the Ukrainian Air Force’s fighter fleet in the air through the first years of the war. In December 2025 the Polish military command considered sending a further six to eight retired MiG-29s in exchange for Ukrainian drone and missile know-how, with President Karol Nawrocki stating that “this exchange of MiGs for anti-drone systems does not contradict our policy.” By late June the arrangement had collapsed, with Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stating: “Initially there was agreement in this area. Today Ukraine is not fulfilling this agreement.”

Relations were strained further on October 20, when the Lviv Regional Council declared 2027 the year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and its commander Roman Shukhevych, a move Warsaw condemned given the organisation’s role in the Volhynia massacres of 1943. Polish officials denied reports that an aid package had been frozen in response, and the two jets now confirmed for transfer are far fewer than the squadron of at least 14 aircraft that had been discussed. Poland’s own priorities lie elsewhere, with the MiG-29 being replaced by F-16 fighters and the FA-50 light fighters ordered from South Korea in 2022, while Warsaw has invested heavily in ground-based air defence and has been selected to host Patriot repairs for NATO.

The Polish Ministry of National Defence stated in July that its MiG-29s would not be modernised further and would leave service as each reached the end of its certified life, under a schedule it has kept classified. Ukraine’s MiG-29s have been adapted to carry Western munitions including the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile and JDAM-ER guided bombs, and remain in use against Russian drones and cruise missiles as Kiev presses its partners for more Patriot interceptors. In July 2026 Kosiniak-Kamysz offered Polish help to modernise Ukraine’s existing MiG-29s, on condition that Poland or allied states willing to pay would cover the cost.