Slovak MiG-29s sent to Ukraine were sabotaged by Russian technicians

MiG-29 fighter jets take part in last year's NATO exercise. Photo: RADOSLAW JOZWIAK/AFP

The Slovak MiG-29 fighter jets handed over to Ukraine are out of order and cannot perform combat missions because Russian technicians sabotaged them, Slovak Defense Minister said.

Minister Yaroslav Nad said that the only broken parts in combat aircraft were Russian technicians who worked at the Slovak air force base until last year.

«They can fly, but that doesn't mean they're also capable of fighting,» he told parliament, according to local media. “The police are investigating based on our suspicions.”

Slovakia joined NATO in 2004, 11 years after the collapse of Czechoslovakia, and admitting that Russian technicians tampered with its Air Force planes would be very embarrassing.

The pro-Western government of Slovakia last month became the second country in Central Europe after Poland to donate fighter jets to Ukraine. He pledged to send all of his remaining 11 MiG-29s to Ukraine and was promised increased aid from the EU and more military supplies from the US as compensation.

General Lubomir Svoboda, deputy head of the Slovak military and former commander-in-chief of them The air force said the technicians were based in Slovakia under a long-term contract with Russia because they had «great know-how» on the Soviet-designed fighter.

29 aircraft

Until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the Soviet Union in 1991, Czechoslovakia was de facto under Russian control, and much of its military hardware reflects that legacy.

Mr Nad said that hopes for Ukraine. they could fix malfunctioning combat aircraft and fly them on sorties against Russia.

"They have pilots, spare parts and a company that has been working on MiGs since Soviet times&# 34; he said.

Ukraine was begging its neighbors to send it more fighters, primarily modern Western aircraft, as well as the MiG-29, which its air force already uses.

In March, General USA James B. Hecker, commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, said that Ukraine has lost 60 combat aircraft in the war so far, while Russia has lost 70.

The Soviet Union developed the MiG-29 to counter the American F -15 during the Cold War. They are considered the workhorse of the Central European Air Force.

The United States has ruled out sending F-16s to Ukraine. In February, Rishi Sunak instructed the Ministry of Defense to look into what military aircraft the UK could transfer to Ukraine.