At the beginning of Russia’s all-out war in 2022, Ukraine asked Poland for MiG-29 fighter jets, but the US blocked the request, former Polish President Andrzej Duda told Polskie Radio in an interview. 

“Ukraine was literally pleading with us for MiGs. It came up constantly in my conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We turned to our allies to ask if we could transfer the aircraft as a NATO member state, and the Americans blocked it,” Duda said.

He added that during negotiations, the Ukrainian side expressed frustration, since the US did not publicly acknowledge its ban.

“The Ukrainians would come to us with complaints because they heard from the Americans: go talk to the Poles. So it created the impression that it was Poland refusing to provide the jets,” the former Polish president explained.

According to Duda, the US similarly blocked the transfer of tanks and other heavy assault vehicles. However, he emphasized that Poland was ultimately the first country to provide Ukraine with heavy weaponry, which he called “a major contribution to saving Ukraine.”

Earlier, the Norwegian Defense Ministry announced it would send F-35 fighters to Poland to protect NATO’s strategic logistics hub in Rzeszów from potential sabotage and missile strikes.

This year, the US said it planned to redeploy some of its military equipment and personnel from the Polish military airport Jasionka, near Rzeszów, to other locations within Poland.