The United States Congress has approved $288.6 million (1.4 billion zloty) in military financing for Poland to bolster its security against the increased threat from Russia and to help it replace equipment it has donated to Ukraine.
The funding was first announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Kyiv earlier this month during which he outlined a plan to provide $2.8 billion of military aid to Ukraine and 17 other countries in the region deemed “potentially at risk of future Russian aggression”.
OŚWIADCZENIE:
[1/4] Kongres Stanów Zjednoczonych zatwierdził przekazanie Polsce 288,6 milionów dolarów w ramach Foreign Military Financing. pic.twitter.com/2vXUyywOS8— US Embassy Warsaw (@USEmbassyWarsaw) September 29, 2022
Around $1 billion of that will go to Ukraine, but Poland’s share – around 10% of the total package – is among the largest of any country, says the State Department, which notes that “Poland has delivered extraordinary support to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s further invasion”.
Poland has been the second largest supplier of military equipment to Ukraine this year, behind only the US itself. By 3 August, it had delivered around $1.8 billion of in-kind military aid, compared to $0.89 billion from the UK and $0.47 billion from Germany, according to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker.
The State Department says that the military financing provided to Poland will be used to “speed the backfill of capabilities Poland has been able to provide from its own stocks to add to Ukraine’s defense, including main battle tanks”.
In late June, President Joe Biden announced that the US will establish a permanent military base in Poland. It is the first time the country has done so anywhere on NATO’s eastern flank, which up to now has only had a rotating troop presence.
Earlier that month, Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, called on the country’s allies to provide equipment to help Poland replace what it has donated to Ukraine, including tanks, howitzers, and man-portable air-defence systems.
The Polish government has also stepped up its own military spending after increasing the defence budget to 3% of GDP, one of the highest levels in NATO.
Main image credit: NATO, Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
