The joint declaration calls for continued arms deliveries until Kiev retakes its lost territory
Donald Tusk (L) and Vladimir Zelensky talk during a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, January 22, 2024 © AP / Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
Poland has signed a pledge by G7 and EU leaders to supply Ukraine with weapons until it achieves its military objectives against Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also pledged to manufacture weapons in Ukraine and to make Warsaw Kiev’s “most reliable” supporter.
Tusk announced that Poland would join the security agreement after meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev on Monday, the Polsat news agency reported.
The pledge, formally known as the Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, was signed last summer by the G7 leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US, as well as the presidents of the European Council and European Commission.
Its signatories promised to support Kiev with “modern military equipment,” military intelligence, training, and economic aid, with the goal of securing a “sovereign Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,” which include the Russian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporzhye, and Crimea.
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Meanwhile, Ukraine has agreed to crack down on corruption and human rights abuses in preparation for its “future membership in the Euro-Atlantic community.”
“It is very important to build the feeling that Poland is the most reliable, most stable ally of Ukraine,” Tusk said on Monday. “There is nothing more important than supporting Ukraine in its war effort against the Russian attack. This is absolutely number one.”
Poland’s previous nationalist government was one of Ukraine’s most ardent backers, committing more than €3 billion ($3.27 billion) in military aid to Kiev, and lobbying its Western allies to provide more advanced arms. However, relations between Warsaw and Kiev deteriorated in September after Ukraine filed a now-suspended complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Poland and some other EU states banning Ukrainian grain deliveries, which they argued undercut their own producers.
Tusk, an avowedly pro-EU politician who headed the European Council from 2014 to 2019, said earlier this month that he would “never allow anyone in my government to build their position on some kind of anti-Ukrainian sentiment.”
READ MORE: Poland’s PM won’t tolerate ‘anti-Ukrainian sentiment’
Following his meeting with Zelensky on Monday, Tusk said he was ready to finalize talks on the joint Polish-Ukrainian production of weapons and ammunition on Ukrainian territory, and that Poland would play a key role in the post-conflict reconstruction of Ukraine.
When German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall discussed building a weapons factory in Ukraine last year, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned that such a facility would become a legitimate target for Russian drones and missiles.
