Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, said that his country would transfer four Soviet-designed MiG fighters to Ukraine “literally in the next few days,” potentially pushing Western military aid to the embattled country over a significant threshold. The warplanes would be the first sent to Ukraine by a NATO country since Russia invaded last year.
Poland first pledged such fighters a year ago but has so far sent none. Officials had previously indicated that they would send warplanes to Ukraine only alongside other countries. It was not immediately clear which allies were ready to join or whether Poland was going it alone. And there was skepticism over whether Warsaw could move as quickly as it hoped.
Some of Ukraine’s allies have appeared far more reluctant when it comes to warplanes, and the U.S. has said that sending them is not currently on the table. The debate over fighter jets came as Russian and Ukrainian troops in the eastern part of the country remained enmeshed in battle around Bakhmut, where both sides have sustained heavy losses.
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