Poland only has enough supplies to fight war “for a week or two”, says security chief

Mar 27, 2025 | Business, Defence, Politics, Uncategorized

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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.

The head of President Andrzej Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Dariusz Łukowski, has warned that Poland only has enough ammunition to defend itself “for a week or two” if it was attacked by Russia.

But his remarks have been criticised as “outrageous” by a deputy defence minister, who says they are not true and will be exploited by Poland’s enemies.

In an interview with Polsat News on Tuesday, Łukowski – a military general who previously served as deputy chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces – was asked if it was true that Poland only has enough ammunition for five days of war.

He responded that “it is possible”, though noted that it is hard to give a simple answer because Poland possesses a variety of ammunition for different weapons in varying quantities.

The interviewer then asked more specifically how long Poland would be able to defend itself using its own ammunition if it were attacked by Russia from neighbouring Kaliningrad or Belarus.

 

Łukowski again said it was hard to assess, because there can be different types of attacks, but admitted that, “depending on how this fight was fought, this defence could last a week or two at today’s level [of supplies]”.

However, the general added that Poland has lower quantities of ammunition in large part because it has given so much to Ukraine, which in turn is helping to reduce the threat of a Russian attack. He also noted that efforts are underway to boost Poland’s ammunition production.

“As long as the war in Ukraine is continuing, we gain time to build this [production] potential and replenish supplies,” he explained. “We hope that within two or three years…we will rebuild our potential to such an extent that we will be able to realistically oppose potential aggression from Russia.”

Łukowski’s remarks were criticised as “shocking” by deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk, who told Polsat News that they were “unnecessary, untrue in essence and will be exploited by our enemies”.

Noting that Łukowski was only appointed as head of the BBN last month, Tomczyk said that he “may not be a very experienced public official yet” and should in future “take more care of what he says”.

The BBN is the body responsible for advising the president – who is the commander-in-chief of Poland’s armed forces – on national security. Duda, who has been in office since 2015, is an ally of the main opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), and has regularly clashed with the government.

On Wednesday, when asked about Łukowski’s comments, defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz claimed that, when the current government replaced PiS in office in December 2023, ammunition “production capacity de facto did not exist”.

“So since my first days in office, I have done everything to change this situation,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz, quoted by broadcaster TVN. “Of course, it takes time. Building a factory does not happen in a single day.”

Poland has rapidly ramped up defence spending under both the former and current government. At 4.7% of GDP this year, its defence budget is the highest in NATO in relative terms.


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: włodi/Flickr (under CC BY-SA 2.0)

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