The War Zone
There are big timetable and quantity issues with the claim that 70 Soviet-era jets will be joining the Ukrainian Air Force.
Social media, including official accounts associated with Ukrainian lawmakers, is absolutely aflutter with claims that multiple countries in Europe are about to send 70 soviet-era combat jets to bolster the country’s capabilities in the face of a now six-day-old Russian invasion. Some also say that Ukrainian pilots are in Poland right now supporting the impending transfer of some of the aircraft. While the European Union has said it is working to provide more fighter aircraft for Ukraine, among other weapons and materiel, the big numbers and tiny timetables some are claiming just don’t add up
To rewind quickly, yesterday, Josep Borrell, a Spanish politician who is currently the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and as Vice-President of the European Commission, announced that “fighter jets” would be part of a large military aid package the bloc was putting together for Ukraine. He implied that these aircraft would be types that Ukraine already operates to help get them into combat faster. This narrowed the most likely options down to MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters from Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, as well as Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft from the latter country. You can read more about all of this in The War Zone‘s initial reporting on this story here.
This evening, Politico published a report, citing a single unnamed Ukrainian government official, saying that Ukrainian pilots are in Poland right now as part of this deal. This followed a Facebook post with similar information from Galina Tretyakova, a member of the country’s parliament, or Rada, who belongs to the Servant of the People party.
