In the spring of 2023, Poland became the first NATO country to send fighter jets to Ukraine — fourteen MiG-29s, handed over while other capitals were still debating. Three years later, the last fourteen Fulcrums in Polish service were supposed to follow them east. This week, Warsaw said no.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirmed on Polsat News on 29 June that the transfer has been halted — and his explanation says as much about the state of Poland–Ukraine relations as any communiqué. The jets, he said, were part of a bargain: MiGs in exchange for Ukrainian drone technology. In Warsaw’s telling, Kyiv took the deal, then walked away from its half.

A Swap That Soured

The logic of the original deal was elegant. Poland is retiring its MiG-29s anyway; Ukraine flies the type in combat and cannibalises every airframe it can get. Ukraine, meanwhile, has become the world’s most battle-hardened drone power — exactly the expertise Poland wants after Russian drones crossed into its airspace in September 2025. Jets for know-how: both sides win.

What broke it, according to Kosiniak-Kamysz, was Kyiv’s drone diplomacy elsewhere. Ukraine has signed defence-technology agreements with Kuwait, and is courting Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar — paying customers, while Poland expected partnership terms. In the minister’s telling, a Ukraine already able to sell drones to Kuwait and profit from them while at war could surely reciprocate toward those who supply it with equipment.

Ukraine’s government has not publicly responded to the Polish account, and The War Zone notes the claims cannot be independently confirmed. There are two sides to this story; so far only one is talking.

The Bigger Chill

The frozen jets are a symptom, not the disease. Since President Karol Nawrocki took office in August 2025 promising a “symmetrical strategic partnership,” the relationship has curdled through grain disputes, the painful history of Volhynia, and an extraordinary exchange in June: Nawrocki revoked President Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle, and Zelensky returned his Polish decorations. Between neighbours whose security is so tightly interlocked, the symbolism is chilling — Russian drones do not check passports on their way west.

For Ukraine’s air force, the practical loss is real but shrinking. Its future is Western: F-16 E Mirage 2000s in service, sixteen Gripen Es ordered this week, and talk of Rafales. Fourteen high-hour Fulcrums — some reportedly already earmarked for write-off — were never going to decide the war. But spare parts and airframes keep a battered MiG-29 fleet flying, and Oryx counts at least 38 Ukrainian Fulcrums lost so far.

The Malbork Fulcrums in their element, from the 22nd Air Base’s own community:

Sources: The War Zone; Kyiv Post; Kyiv Independent; Ukrainska Pravda; Reuters (via PRM); Notes from Poland; The Defense Post