Slovakia has announced that neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic will protect their airspace, and the NATO member will suspend flights of its Russian MiG-29 aircraft pending their replacement by new American aircraft.
The agreement was signed by Slovak Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nad, his counterpart from the Czech Republic Yana Chernoshova and Polish Minister of Defense Mariusz Blachak.
“The agreement will enter into force on September 1, when the Slovak MiG-29 fighter jets are decommissioned,” said Martina Koval Kakacekova, spokeswoman for the Slovak Ministry of Defense.
Earlier, the ministry said it would stop flying MiGs because their maintenance had become very expensive, noting that Russian technicians would gradually leave.
British defense report
The UK Department of Defense considered in its daily intelligence report yesterday that it is not yet clear how Moscow will achieve the announced large increase in the number of its soldiers in the army, but it is unlikely that these reinforcements will lead to a significant increase in its combat power in Ukraine.
She indicated that it was not clear whether this would be achieved by recruiting more volunteers or by forcibly increasing the number of conscripts.
In both cases, she added, “it is likely that this will not have a significant impact on the fighting in Ukraine, given that the Russian army has lost tens of thousands of its soldiers, and there are very few new contract soldiers being recruited. is not required to serve outside the territory of Russia.