Ukraine and Poland have restarted negotiations on Warsaw's "MiGs for drones" offer, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on 9 July, according to PAP. The proposal would hand Kyiv up to nine MiG-29 fighter jets in exchange for Ukrainian drone technology. The talks resume two weeks after Poland publicly froze the transfer.
"MiGs for drones" back on the table
"There is a clear offer: MiGs for drones. The Ukrainians said yes, then began to reconsider, now they have returned to talks — and very good," Kosiniak-Kamysz said at a press conference after the NATO summit in Ankara. "I hope this offer will be positively finalized."
Talks are underway on implementing Ukraine's war experience in Polish defense systems, the Minister added.
Poland to scrap the MiG-29 fighter jets it was supposed to hand Ukraine amid growing tensions between the allies
From December offer to June freeze
Poland first offered the swap in December 2025, when the Polish President announced readiness to hand over MiG-29s in exchange for anti-drone systems at a joint briefing with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine's president called the jets important, noting Ukrainian pilots already fly the type.
In late June, Warsaw refused to transfer the fighters, with Kosiniak-Kamysz saying Kyiv had walked away from the drone-technology arrangement, Militarnyi reported. The head of Poland's state defense group PGZ said last month that Polish plants may join the repair and maintenance of Ukrainian F-16s and MiG-29s. Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov named joint MiG-29 modernization a pillar of deepening defense cooperation in January.
Poland inside the Patriot pipeline
In Ukraine, US President Donald Trump's promised production license remains months from delivering a missile. Meanwhile, Poland already holds preliminary US approval to manufacture PAC-3 interceptors. Warsaw also signed an agreement with the US, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden to create a European servicing center for PAC-3 Patriot interceptors. Poland, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands received status at Ankara, allowing the transfer of Patriot production and servicing technologies.
"Poland is one of the states indicated by the United States where this production and servicing should take place, so here we will also cooperate with Ukraine," Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding that no equipment transfer to Ukraine happens without Poland.
Asked when Patriot production could start in Ukraine, he called it a stage of many weeks. Today, only the US makes the missiles, at a scale that does not even cover American needs, the minister said.
"We are determined. Poland is ready immediately for servicing and further actions."
