The Pentagon would not stand in the way of a possible transfer of Slovakian fighter jets to Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Tuesday.
Slovakia, which has already provided military technology to the Ukrainian military that the United States has back-filled, could provide MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said Monday, according to Politico, though it’s unclear how many the country would provide.
“We certainly would not object to it. We have no right to object to it,” the defense official said, noting that the U.S., to its knowledge, was not involved in any of the discussion in facilitating the deal.
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Earlier during the war in Ukraine, the U.S. nixed a proposed Polish deal that would provide Ukraine with MiG-29 aircraft because the Polish wanted to transfer the planes to U.S. custody first. The Pentagon called the possible deal “high-risk” and not “tenable.”
The defense official specified that the objection to the previous possible agreement was the role in getting the planes to Ukraine, not Poland’s idea to provide the aircraft.
“I want to stress again, from the very beginning, we said that these are sovereign decisions that nations can make, and we respect them, and if a nation wants to provide fixed-wing fighter aircraft to Ukraine, then that’s up to them to decide and for them to speak to. And what our goal again, our objections to the previous proposal was that the country in question expressed the desire to transfer them into our custody for us to deliver to Ukraine,” the official said.
“That is what we objected to. We did not object to the idea of the provision of fixed-wing aircraft to Ukraine, and that will be a decision in this case for Slovakia to make,” the official continued.
The Slovakian government is looking to move away from relying on MiGs because the upkeep on such aircraft requires a “relationship” with Russia, Heger said, noting that they’re waiting two more years to receive U.S.-made F-16s.
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Ukrainian leaders continued to press Western governments for additional military resources as Russia has changed its operating tactics to focus on the Donbas region, the eastern and southeastern part of the country. The U.S. alone has provided $1.7 billion in military aid since Russia invaded.
Last week, Slovakia provided the Ukrainians with an S-300 air defense system, and U.S. European Command repositioned one Patriot missile system to Slovakia in return.
