Warsaw insists on a full refund of the funds it spent – about 2 billion zlotys (450 million euros) – for weapons transferred to Ukraine, and does not want to direct these funds directly to military support for Kyiv.
Points of attention
- Poland insists on a full refund of 450 million euros spent on weapons transferred to Ukraine, rejecting direct allocation for military support for Kyiv.
- A dispute has arisen among EU countries over how to distribute 6.6 billion euros for training Ukrainian military personnel and procuring equipment for Ukraine.
Poland wants to return 450 million euros for weapons to Ukraine
A dispute has arisen between EU countries over the distribution of 6.6 billion euros that were unblocked after Hungary lifted its veto on the European Peace Fund (EPF) funds.
The Polish side rejects the proposal of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kallas, which provides for a proportional return of only 10% of the costs to each Community country that assisted Ukraine with weapons, and she proposed spending the remaining funds on a mission to train the Ukrainian military and joint procurement of weapons for Ukraine.
Germany, in turn, believes that these funds should be directed directly to supporting Kyiv.
On this occasion, Poland's Deputy Minister of National Defense, Cezary Tomczyk, stated that Warsaw will fight for every euro, while Brussels is trying to change the rules of the game in its course.
Poland's position is supported by Slovakia. In turn, the positions of France and the Scandinavian countries are close to Kallas's proposal.
However, Paris has raised a caveat in this regard: the purchase of weapons should concern exclusively European equipment.
Germany, which is the largest donor to the fund in percentage terms, notes that returning several hundred million euros to the national budget will not fundamentally change anything, and therefore Berlin is quite ready to refuse compensation in favor of Ukraine.
According to a diplomatic source, Germany will allocate a total of 11.5 billion euros to support Kyiv this year.
The issue has currently been transferred to the technical level of negotiations, after which it should reach the level of ambassadors of EU member states.
