Overview
- Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told Polish TV on June 29 that Warsaw will not send the approved additional MiG-29 jets because Kyiv did not provide the drone technology or capabilities it had agreed to share.
- Poland had approved the transfer of up to nine more MiG-29s in January and previously donated 14 MiG-29s to Ukraine in spring 2023 as it moves to replace the type with Western fighters.
- Reports do not specify what exact drone technology Poland sought, and Ukraine has not publicly responded to the Polish minister’s claim.
- The pause matters operationally because Ukrainian pilots are already trained on MiG-29s and Ukraine has sustained heavy aircraft losses, a factor that makes immediate transfers of familiar jets valuable to Kyiv’s combat readiness.
- The dispute comes with rising political friction between Warsaw and Kyiv over historical-memory issues and with Ukraine expanding defence cooperation with Middle Eastern states, which could reshape future military-technical partnerships.