Poland to scrap MiG-29 fighters that were to be transferred to Ukraine

Poland will gradually decommission the MiG-29 fighters it planned to transfer to Ukraine in exchange for drone technology.

Wirtualna Polsk writes about this.

The Polish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the fighters are reaching the end of their service life (the Polish Air Force has been using them since 1989), and that no further modernization of the aircraft is planned. It is unknown when they will be completely decommissioned.

In late June, Poland’s Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said he had offered Ukraine “MiGs in exchange for drones”. However, Kyiv refused to share the technology, so Warsaw decided not to transfer the fighters.

What preceded

In December 2025, Poland began talking about transferring MiGs to Ukraine. Zelensky then noted that Ukraine needed MiG-29 aircraft, because Ukrainian pilots already had experience flying them and “the issue is not a shortage of aircraft, but a shortage of pilots”.

The Polish General Staff noted that these aircraft would be decommissioned and replaced with F-16 and FA-50 fighters. On December 14, Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk said that this involved 6–8 aircraft out of 14 available in Poland.

In February 2026, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reported a new, 48th aid package for Ukraine. It included MiG-29 fighter jets.

Polandʼs Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski stated on June 17 that Ukraine is not interested in receiving MiG-29s from the country. He said that Kyiv wants to receive aircraft that are adapted to modern combat conditions, and Warsaw is not ready for such expenses.

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