Warsaw does not intend to send soldiers to the neighboring country, Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Wziatek has said
FILE PHOTO. Polish army soldiers © Getty Images / Omar Marques
Poland has no plans to send its military to Ukraine, even for the purpose of training Kiev’s troops, the country’s deputy defense minister, Stanislaw Wziatek, said in an interview with Polskie Radio on Tuesday.
Wziatek’s comments come after Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated on Friday that the West should respond to Moscow’s military operation against Kiev with “asymmetric escalation” and suggested that the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine is “not unthinkable.”
However, Wziatek has dismissed his colleague’s statement and stressed that Warsaw does not expect its soldiers to take part in the conflict in any way. “The presence of Polish soldiers in Ukraine, even if it were of a training nature, would border on direct participation [in the conflict],” the deputy minister argued.
At the same time, he insisted that assistance to Ukraine must continue and pointed out that the most serious problem for Kiev, as well as other NATO countries, is a lack of ammunition.
“We must do everything to increase ammunition production,” he said, adding that “peace in Europe” can only be achieved if Russia loses the conflict with Ukraine.
Polish Defense Minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has also dismissed Sikorski’s statement, stressing that “the Polish Army will not be in Ukraine… Both the President, the Prime Minister, and I confirm this.”
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The possibility of a NATO deployment to Ukraine was first brought up last month by French President Emmanuel Macron, who stated that he “could not exclude” such a scenario from unfolding in the future.
His comments sparked a wave of denials from senior officials of nearly all NATO member states, as well as the bloc’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, all of whom denied having any plans or intention of deploying their forces to help Kiev.
Meanwhile, commenting on the talk of NATO military contingents being sent to Ukraine last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin recalled that all previous attempts to conquer Russia have ended in failure and warned that “now the consequences for potential invaders would be far more tragic.”
