FILE PHOTO: Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala attends a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech fighter jets will guard neighbouring Slovakia's air space as of September, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Sunday.
Slovakia asked its NATO allies to patrol its skies as it decided to ground its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets, which could be sent to neighbouring Ukraine to help Kyiv defend itself against Russia's invasion.
"I don't see any problem there, the government will certainly approve it," Fiala said in a televised debate with his Slovak counterpart Eduard Heger.
Slovakia ordered F-16 fighter jets from the United States in 2018. The first planes were expected to arrive this year and the shipment to be completed in the next year, but the delivery is now assumed to take place in 2024.
(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Toby Chopra)
