Warsaw, 16 March 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Poland plans to hand over four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days, with more being maintained for a later transfer to Kiev, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday.

He made his comments in Warsaw after a meeting with Czech President Petr Pavel.

The Polish Air Force currently has about a dozen Soviet-manufactured MiG-29s, which were taken over from former East German stocks in the early 1990s, Duda said.

"They continue to be in service all the time as functioning MiGs for our air defence."

The aircraft handed to Ukraine are to be replaced by modern fighter jets ordered by Poland from South Korea and the United States.

The discussion about the Polish MiG-29s had first come up soon after the full Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Last week, Duda said his country wanted to hand over the jets as part of an international coalition, but did not provide details about the coalition.

At the Munich Security Conference in February, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said a prerequisite for Warsaw to export the jets would be a NATO decision to do so.

At the same meeting, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said his country would not prevent others from supplying fighter jets. Apart from Poland, Slovakia is also ready to give up its MiG-29s in agreement with European partners.