Krupa: SaS in Favour of Donating MiG-29s to Ukraine

Bratislava, March 15 (TASR) - Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP and head of the parliamentary defence and security committee Juraj Krupa has said that his party supports the idea of donating Slovakia's decommissioned MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine, noting that Slovakia wouldn't be the first country to send jet fighters to Kiev. The issue was dealt with at Tuesday's extraordinary session of the parliamentary committee. "The MPs were informed in detail about the situation, what condition the MiGs are in, how many pilots there are who could theoretically fly them," said Krupa, adding that the number of pilots is low. The MPs on Tuesday were also informed about the legal basis on which the interim government wants to make a decision on the matter. "We have been informed about the compensation that the Slovak Republic would receive [for the MiGs]," noted Krupa, adding that even the MPs who do not agree with donating the aircraft to Ukraine welcomed the proposed compensation. Interim Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad confirmed for the committee that the compensation offer amounts to $900 million (€849 million) and that it includes state-of-art military equipment from the USA. zel/df