Providing Kiev with weapons helps protect Europe from the “totalitarian Russian regime,” the Polish government said
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Warsaw, August, 2019 © Getty Images / SOPA Images / Contributor
Poland has provided Kiev with $1.6 billion worth of weapons “to defend Ukrainian, Polish and European sovereignty” amid Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Saturday.
Writing on Twitter, Muller referred to the announcement made by the country’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki earlier on Saturday.
“Poland has provided Ukraine with weapons worth around 7 billion PLN {Polish zloty}… This is over 1.7 billion dollars to defend Ukrainian, Polish and European sovereignty!” Muller said.
The government spokesman’s statement seems to be reiterating Morawiecki’s idea that in fighting the “totalitarian Russian regime,” the Ukrainians are defending their neighbors and the whole of Europe.
“They are fighting for us, for Europe, for freedom, for peace in Europe and everyone should be aware of this all the time,” Morawiecki said during a press conference in Warsaw.
As Ukraine cannot fight Russian forces “without a huge amount of weaponry,” including heavy equipment, Morawiecki said, Poland is trying to help it “with all of this.”
His remarks reflect the position of Ukrainian officials, who say that by fighting Russian forces Ukraine is defending not only itself but also bolstering the security of Europe and NATO and therefore needs “weapons, weapons and weapons.”
The Polish leader’s announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev has finally started to receive from its partners those weapons which it had requested.
Just a few days prior, however, Zelensky’s advisor Mikhail Podolyak had criticized the European Union for sending Kiev the “wrong” weapons and complained that aid deliveries had been far too slow.
Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against sending arms to Ukraine and stated that it would consider arms convoys to be legitimate targets. It also says that “pumping up” Ukraine with weapons will only lead to more casualties.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
