Polish defense minister accuses President Nawrocki of lying about Patriot deliveries to Ukraine

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that the country’s president, Karol Nawrocki, had been informed about the deliveries of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, contrary to his own claims.

The minister made the statement in an interview with the outlet Wirtualna Polska.

Nawrocki had previously claimed he was unaware of the deliveries of Polish Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Kosiniak-Kamysz flatly denied this, saying he had personally discussed the matter with the president.

“The president certainly knew about this, because I spoke with him myself. The NATO Secretary General [Mark Rutte] discussed it with him. The president is simply turning the situation on its head today,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The minister also stressed that he would not allow “lies to be spread or political theater to be staged on issues where we are making every effort to keep the president fully informed.” According to him, a presidential representative attends the weekly security committee meetings at which decisions on military aid to Kyiv are made.

Kosiniak-Kamysz also touched separately on the subject of delivering Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. According to him, “time is running out for Ukraine on this issue, and a final decision must be made in the coming weeks.”

“Everything now depends on the Ukrainian side. Our offer stands, and we have MiGs that Ukraine is interested in,” the minister said.

According to the defense minister, the two sides are currently discussing the maintenance of the aircraft — specifically, who will repair them and at whose expense. If no agreement with Ukraine is reached, the aircraft will be sold to Bulgaria.

Negotiations over the transfer of the MiG-29s have been ongoing since December 2025, when the Polish Army General Staff announced that Warsaw was discussing the transfer of the fighters to Kyiv in exchange for drone and missile technologies. Poland’s Defense Ministry subsequently stated that the deal had fallen through because Ukraine had not transferred anything to Poland. The collapse of the negotiations came amid a conflict between Polish and Ukrainian leadership over Kyiv’s decision to name a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit after the UPA (recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), which took part in the genocide of Poles.

On July 22, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry stated that Kyiv was still awaiting the transfer of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters from Poland, but had additionally requested repair equipment and maintenance hardware from Warsaw. The Polish side found this demand unacceptable, and the negotiations reached an impasse.