Russia today vowed to 'destroy' the dozens of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland and Slovakia have pledged to send to Ukraine in the coming days.
The Kremlin said the fighter jets would be 'destroyed' before insisting that the deployment of Western arms - including warplanes and tanks - would not change the course of the war.
Slovakia today approved a plan to send its fleet of 13 MiG-29s to Ukraine, following Poland's lead in supplying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with warplanes to help fight against Russia's invasion.
In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: 'The supply of this military equipment - as we have repeatedly said - will not change the outcome of the special military operation... Of course, all this equipment will be destroyed.'
Since Russia's invasion last year NATO countries have sent billions of dollars of military aid to help Ukraine defend against Russia's invading forces. Moscow has accused the West of directly participating in the conflict through supplying weapons to Ukraine, and has warned before that NATO weapons would 'burn like hell'.
Earlier, Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger said his government had unanimously voted to donate its fleet of MiGs to Ukraine, becoming the second NATO member to fulfil Kyiv's increasingly urgent requests for fighter jets.
'We will hand over 13 of our MiG-19 jets to Ukraine,' Heger said, adding that Slovakia would also deliver a Kub air defence system to Kyiv. Slovakia grounded its fleet of warplanes last year and no longer uses the jets.
'Promises must be kept and when Zelensky asked for more weapons including fighter jets, I said we'll do our best. Glad others are doing the same,' Heger later tweeted, adding that military aid was key to ensuring Ukraine can 'defend itself'.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday that Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes in the coming days and others that need servicing and would be supplied later.
'In the coming days we will first transfer, if I remember correctly, four fully operational planes to Ukraine,' Duda said, adding that Poland currently has a dozen or so MiG planes that it inherited from the former German Democratic Republic.
'These MiGs are still in service in Poland's air force. They're in their last years of operation but are still for the most part in full working order,' Duda said.
'Additional planes are currently in preparation, under maintenance, and will probably be transferred successively.'
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that deliveries could be made in four to six weeks.
The MiG-29s will help Ukraine destroy Russian air targets within radar coverage limits as well as ground targets using unguided missiles. The aircraft also features large wing extensions which gives it good manoeuvrability and control at subsonic speeds.
Poland and Slovakia had indicated they were ready to hand over their planes, but only as part of a wider international coalition doing the same.
It remains unclear whether other countries would also share their military planes.
Ukraine's Air Force has a fleet of ageing Soviet-era fighter jets that came off the assembly line before Kyiv even declared independence more than 31 years ago. The warplanes are used for intercept missions and to attack Russian positions.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for Western supporters to share fighter jets, NATO allies have expressed hesitancy.
Before Russia's full-scale invasion in February last year, Ukraine had several dozen MiG-29s it inherited in the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it's unclear how many of them remain in service after more than a year of fighting.
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