Ukraine Approached Moldova for Combat MiG-29 Aircraft and Was Rejected to Avoid 'Irritating Russia'

In the early days of the war, Ukraine reached out to Moldova with a request to transfer its MiG-29 jets from its inventory. This was reported by 'European Truth,' citing its sources.

It was noted that in the first days of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian leadership appealed to the Moldovan government with a request to sell or transfer the combat aircraft of the Moldovan Air Force to Ukraine.

Moldova's Ministry of Defense has six MiG-29 fighters on its balance, located at the airbase in the village of Markuleshti in the northern part of the country. According to official data, all are in working condition, although the planes have not taken to the skies for a long time. Chisinau had been trying to sell them for an extended period, but the sale never materialized.

However, sources from the publication assert that Kyiv received a categorical rejection from the Moldovan government, explaining, 'we do not want to irritate Russia.' Moldova believed that the Russian Federation would consider this a violation of the principle of neutrality.