At the Warsaw Security Forum, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that in order to win the war, Ukraine needs constant support from all, especially the strongest, most powerful partners. This was reported by a Radio Liberty correspondent.
He called on the partners to increase their assistance to Ukraine by transferring more weapons and ammunition and “allowing them to be used without any restrictions”.
At the same time, we have to bring Ukraine closer to Euro-Atlantic integration. That is why it is so important for our societies to understand that the current costs of supporting Ukraine are nothing compared to what we would have to pay if we allowed Ukraine to fall. Additional challenges are posed to us by the fact that, unfortunately, we have been demilitarizing for the past 30 years. Today we have to rebuild our defense potential. To do this, we also need bold political decisions that will guarantee long-term financing of the production potential of our defense companies and our armed forces, which must be strengthened both quantitatively and qualitatively, – the Polish president said.
According to Duda, the price Ukraine pays is the highest. We are talking about casualties among the military and civilians, destroyed infrastructure, and halted social and economic development:
Let’s remember that the funds to support Ukraine do not have a human dimension for us yet, they are only material funds. I emphasize the words “so far” because Putin’s ambitions go far beyond Ukraine, and if Ukraine were to be conquered, all the countries on NATO’s eastern flank would be threatened, and this would undoubtedly shake the security stability of the whole of Europe.
The Polish president also reiterated his call for NATO countries to allocate at least 3% of GDP to defense, as he said the situation demands it.
The 2% of GDP allocated for defense was a good goal in peacetime, but it is not enough in times of real military threat. Moreover, we must simultaneously support Ukraine’s military efforts by supplying Ukraine with ammunition and weapons. That is why I once again call on NATO countries to allocate at least 3% of GDP for defense. Suffice it to recall that this is exactly how much NATO countries spent on defense during the Cold War. These expenditures brought victory without war in the kinetic sense, without war in Europe, – Duda said.
The President of Poland noted that his country is aware of the threat that lurks on its borders. Therefore, this year Poland is allocating more than 4% of GDP for defense, and next year it plans to spend 4.7%.
It is not easy for us to spend this money, these are not easy decisions, but we make them in full, super-patriotic agreement of the main political forces, because we, the Poles, know well what the price of military defeat is, – Duda explained.
According to him, the leaders of the allied countries should explain to their citizens what threats the West faces and why it should spend such money.
Speaking about Poland’s security, the President also emphasized the need for a greater presence of NATO forces on the eastern flank, especially air defense systems:
We need additional high-readiness forces designed to fulfill the defense plans of the allies, we need to expand the military and fuel infrastructure on the eastern flank, capable of providing logistical support for collective defense operations. I hope that these issues will be a priority for the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Andrzej Duda also emphasized that the EU’s potential should be used in the process of rebuilding Ukraine and creating long-term conditions for its economic and social development, but for this to happen, Ukraine must become a full-fledged member of the European community.
In the political dimension, it is extremely important to continue the policy of EU enlargement at the expense of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well as our allies: Turkey, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania. These are important and ambitious tasks that I hope will be fulfilled by the new European Commission, – the head of state said.
Duda emphasized that from any point of view, the West is more powerful than Russia, and NATO is many times larger than Russia in economic terms, and the only thing needed to win the confrontation with Russia is the will to act and spend money. According to the Polish president, maintaining transatlantic unity is crucial in this case.
