Poland confirms US has frozen military aid to Ukraine

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland today confirmed that the United States has halted its military aid to Ukraine and that it did not consult its allies before making the move.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been the main hub for military and humanitarian aid to its neighbour, with over 90% of aid for the country arriving via the south-eastern Polish airport of Rzeszów-Jasionka.

“Reports coming in from the border, from our hub in Jasionka, confirm the announcements made by the American side,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said ahead of a cabinet meeting, as quoted by Polish Press Agency (PAP).

“This, of course, puts Europe, Ukraine, Poland in a more difficult situation, but we have to cope with this situation,” he added. Meanwhile, the Polish foreign ministry spokesman revealed that the US did not consult its allies before deciding to freeze aid.

Tusk was referring to an overnight decision by US President Donald Trump to withhold military aid to Kyiv, with the freeze applying to all military equipment not yet inside Ukraine, including weapons already on their way to the country and those stored in warehouses in Poland.

“The situation is serious, I do not need to convince anyone that it requires special attention from the government,” said Tusk.

“We will be making decisions that will require the full solidarity of the state and your ministries,” he said during the cabinet meeting, urging ministers to speed up their work on legislation affecting defence and arms procurement. “We will work at a different pace. You have to surpass yourselves.”

Tusk thanked the minister for funds and regional policy for commencing work on finding ways to move up to 30 billion zloty (€7.21 billion) from the EU Covid recovery fund to defence spending.

He added that, like other EU leaders, he had received a letter from the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, proposing a plan to rearm Europe.

Von der Leyen’s plan, announced hours after Trump suspended all military aid to Ukraine, includes mobilising up to €800 billion to boost defence spending, reported Euronews. The plan will be discussed on Thursday at an extraordinary EU summit in Brussels.

Poland has long called on its allies to increase military spending, and it will allocate 4.7% of its GDP to defence this year, the highest relative level in NATO.

Earlier today, the spokesman for the Polish foreign affairs ministry, Paweł Wroński, revealed that the US did not consult its NATO allies before deciding on the aid freeze.

“[The decision] was taken without informing us and consulting us. Neither with NATO allies nor with the Ramstein group,” Wroński said, referring to a coalition of countries involved in regular military assistance to Ukraine, reported broadcaster Polsat News.

Wroński assured that regardless of the US decision, “Poland continues to support Ukraine fighting Russian aggression”. He added that Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski remains in constant contact with allies. The ministry also announced on its social media that Sikorski had discussed Trump’s decision with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.