Ukraine backed out of MiGs-for-drones deal, Polish minister claims
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Poland has not transferred additional MiG fighter jets to Ukraine because Kyiv has not provided promised drone technology in exchange, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in an interview with Polsat News on June 29.
"I proposed what I believe was a very fair, partnership-based approach: MiGs in exchange for drones," Kosiniak-Kamysz said on the Gosc Wydarzen program.
"The Ukrainians initially accepted it but did not follow through, so there are no MiGs for Ukraine because there are no drones, or drone capabilities, for Poland."
The Polish government confirmed in January that it had approved the transfer of up to nine MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, as Poland phases out the Soviet-era aircraft in favor of U.S.-designed F-16s and F-35s.
However, Polish officials said earlier in June that the transfer has been delayed because negotiations over the transfer of Ukrainian military technology to Poland remain unresolved.
Poland previously transferred 14 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the spring of 2023, becoming the first country to supply Kyiv with warplanes after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Kosiniak-Kamysz's comments also cast doubt on Ukrainian-Polish cooperation in drone technology. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in April that Ukraine had agreed to share its expertise to help Poland's armed forces build a modern drone fleet.
According to the Polish defense minister, Ukraine possesses both advanced military drone capabilities and extensive operational expertise to share with its partners.
"They're really very good at it. They agreed to do this, but later withdrew from those arrangements," he said.
Ukraine has not commented on Kosiniak-Kamysz's claims.
The news comes amid an escalating crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations, triggered by Ukraine naming a military unit in honor of the World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
While Ukraine primarily remembers the UPA for its resistance against Soviet rule, Poland chiefly remembers it for its role in the 1943–1945 Volyn massacres in present-day western Ukraine, then under Nazi occupation.
Commenting on the dispute, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Ukraine would face significant difficulties in joining the EU if it venerates groups such as the UPA and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
"With (Stepan) Bandera, Ukraine will not join the European Union," the Polish minister said, referencing the founder of the OUN's radical wing, OUN-B.
