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Berlin authorizes Warsaw to deliver MIG-29s to Kiev

According to the German press, the German government has authorized Poland to supply Ukraine with MiG-29 fighters from GDR stocks. Der Spiegel. The German Ministry of Defense confirmed in a press release that “the government does not know whether there will be other requests for authorization from the Polish government for the delivery of other aircraft”, which should still be adjusted to the current status. Standards, Teacher’s Note.

On April 5, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced during a visit to Warsaw by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that Poland was ready to deliver its entire fleet of fighter jets to Kiev “in the near future.” Soviet-designed MiG-29s, about thirty aircraft in total. The distribution could be made “subject to the agreement of its partners” in NATO, he noted. All five aircraft had previously belonged to East Germany, so Warsaw had to obtain permission from Berlin for re-export.

Germany sold 23 MiG-29 fighter jets to Poland in 2002 after seizing them from the GDR military, the newspaper recalled. It notes that “contracts for the sale of military equipment from Germany generally require the federal government to give its consent to a possible subsequent transfer.”