Poland has 14 post-Soviet MiG-29 fighters. Ukraine has drone technology the whole world wants. The deal writes itself: jets for drones. Both sides said yes. And then for nearly a year that deal hung in the air, because neither side wanted to make the first move.

Now Bulgaria has entered the story - and everything changed.

The moment Sofia expressed a wish to buy the Polish MiGs, Kyiv suddenly got interested again. Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said it without much diplomatic wrapping: "We received proof that this technology is rather good. Now that it appears other countries are prepared to buy it, Ukraine has shown interest again."

Let us translate that sentence

Meaning: while Poland was the only buyer, Ukraine had time to think, to hesitate, and to rate the aircraft as technically defective. Ukrainian delegations came to Poland several times in recent months to inspect the MiGs and eventually declared they were in poor technical condition - and that Kyiv could accept them only if Poland upgraded them at its own expense.

The moment a second interested buyer appeared, those same aircraft suddenly became more interesting. Kosiniak-Kamysz says the talks are now "at a more advanced stage than a month ago", but that there is no certainty the deal will be concluded. The Ukrainians sent a letter confirming their continued interest.

A letter. In the third year of a war, between two allied states, negotiations on exchanging military equipment move at the speed of a letter.

Poland is not subsidising any more

What is genuinely new here is not the number of aircraft. It is the tone. The Polish minister said openly that the current government takes a different approach from its predecessor: "Unlike the previous government, we are not simply telling them, 'We will subsidise you' - we expect them to show solidarity."

Before that, in early July, the same minister announced that Ukraine was not honouring the agreement on drone technology. "There is a clear proposal: MiGs for drones. The Ukrainians said yes, but then they began to have doubts," he said, adding that Kyiv had already begun cooperating with its Middle Eastern partners in the same field.

That is the crux of the whole thing. Ukrainian drone technology was built under conditions no Western army has ever tested its own in - a real war, a real opponent, daily losses. That knowledge has a price, and Kyiv knows it. Which is why it is in no hurry to hand it over for 14 old aircraft that somebody else has to overhaul anyway.

Alliance as trade

This is the moment when military aid stops being solidarity and becomes a deal between two sides haggling. Poland no longer wants to give without receiving. Ukraine does not want to hand over the best thing it has below price. And Bulgaria, by entering the game, unintentionally unlocked what had been stuck for months.

This is a good lesson for any small country sitting at a table with bigger ones: the price of what you have is set not by what it is worth to you, but by how many parties want it. The moment a second interested buyer appears, the conversation changes. Bulgaria signed nothing, and it has already shifted the negotiating ground.