Warsaw and Bratislava do not want to send their armed forces to Ukraine, but concentrate their activity on helping our country.
Points of attention
- The presidents of Poland and Slovakia confirmed their position on preventing the deployment of troops to Ukraine, focusing on the provision of billions of dollars in aid.
- Poland is considering the possibility of training a Ukrainian military unit on its territory from Ukrainians who are subject to conscription into the Armed Forces.
- The presidents of Poland and Slovakia believe that sending their troops to Ukraine poses a huge threat to international security.
- Both countries actively train the Ukrainian military, but refuse to send their troops directly to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.
Poland and Slovakia have no intention of sending their troops to Ukraine
The presidents of Poland and Slovakia, Andrzej Duda and Peter Pellegrini, announced this during a joint press conference on July 4 in Warsaw.
As Duda noted, he does not see significant disagreements with President Pellegrini on the issue of Russian aggression and support for Ukraine.
I also do not think that Poland should send its troops to Ukraine today; this would be the inclusion of a NATO country in the war, which is very serious.
Andrzej Duda
President of Poland
He added that until now, Poland's position in the international arena was clear: Warsaw provides military aid to Kyiv but will not send its troops to Ukraine.
Duda reminded that Poland provided Ukraine with "a huge amount" of weapons: almost 350 tanks, more than 100 armoured personnel carriers, continues to transfer Krab self-propelled guns and ammunition, and the total amount of military aid amounts to billions of dollars.
We train Ukrainian military personnel on the territory of Poland, but we do not send our military personnel to Ukraine. And I hope that we will never be forced to send our troops to Ukraine, so that, I emphasise, they would defend Poland and NATO there. I hope that there will be no such need, and Russia will not lead to such a situation.
He emphasised that Russia could not win this war because it would be a massive threat to the world since "Russian imperialism will continue to want to seize new territories and enslave other countries."
In his turn, Pellegrini noted that, as the president, he "will never agree to send the Slovak military to Ukraine to participate in hostilities." According to him, this position is "unchangeable".
Pellegrini reminded us that Slovakia trains the Ukrainian military on its territory. He also confirmed that the current Slovak government does not transfer any lethal weapons to Ukraine.
Ukrainian units will train in Poland
In Poland, they want to prepare a Ukrainian military unit from mobilised Ukrainians who are currently in the country.
It was announced on May 31 in Prague, where a two-day summit of the heads of foreign policy departments of NATO countries is taking place, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Radosław Sikorski.
Poland considered Ukraine's request for training, but we concluded that it would be safer and more effective to train a Ukrainian unit from Ukrainians in Poland who are subject to conscription into the Ukrainian army, and that this would be a more effective way to help Ukraine.
The head of Polish diplomacy also noted that the negotiations with Ukraine regarding the bilateral security agreement are going "properly" and expressed hope that it will be signed before the NATO summit in July in Washington.
