North Macedonia Confirms Sending Su-25 Jets to Ukraine

North Macedonia has gifted Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot combat aircraft to Ukraine, and could likely transfer Mi-24 attack helicopters to the war-torn country soon.

The Ministry of Defense of North Macedonia announced last August that it has decided to hand over to Ukraine four Su-25s.

On March 14, the country’s defense minister Slavyanka Petrovska, officially confirmed the donation in statement. He said Kyiv received Sukhoi aircraft from Skopje, but did not specify the model. North Macedonia only had Su-25s at that time.

Petrovska said that equipment delivered to Ukraine so far consists of “infantry weapons and ammunition, artillery equipment, main battle tanks, anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapon systems, and equipment and ammunition for use by the military aviation.”

These are the same jets that North Macedonia bought from Ukraine in 2001, to deal with the short-lived ethnic Albanian insurgency. North Macedonia had then purchased four Su-25 aircraft for €4 million from Ukraine: three single-seat and one two-seat. Two years later, the jets were decommissioned from the armed forces due to lack of need, and in 2004 were prepared for sale. The defense ministry announced plans to modernize these aircraft to NATO standards in 2011, but the project did not see the light of day.

Local media outlets reported citing government sources that North Macedonia is considering transferring 12 Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters.