Poland joins European Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition

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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.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced during a visit to Ukraine that Poland has joined the Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, a group of European countries that are jointly developing an integrated air defence system for the continent.

“Yes, Poland is now part of this great project,” said Tusk, “a group of countries and companies that will work together to protect against ballistic missiles…mean[ing] much safer European, and therefore also Polish, skies.”

He added that he had “established the form and framework for this cooperation” during talks today with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was hosting a summit of eight countries from around the Carpathian Mountains: Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Tusk, Zelensky also confirmed that “we will be partners” in the missile coalition and Poland “is welcome there”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition was established in mid-July this year during a meeting in Paris of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group of countries that are supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression.

Alongside Ukraine, the coalition also included Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In late July, Kyiv announced that it wants a prototype anti-ballistic system, which has been codenamed Freyja, ready in the first half of next year. Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point is the lead industrial partner in the project.

At the time, there was some confusion and criticism in Poland regarding the fact that the country had not been included in the coalition. Speaking today, Tusk admitted that there had been “a certain misunderstanding” at the time, but it is “now clear that Poland is also part of this initiative”.

The alliance is hoping to develop a cheaper complement to the US-made Patriot air-defence systems, which Ukraine and many other European countries use but which rely on American supplies.

Zelensky has recently called on Ukraine’s allies to provide it with Patriot missiles. However, that issue caused political controversy in Poland earlier this year, when the right-wing opposition criticised the government for handing over some of its missiles to Kyiv, arguing that it would weaken Poland’s own defences.

Speaking today alongside Tusk, Zelensky said that the new missile coalition would bring Poland and Ukraine “even closer to each other” and provide benefits to both countries, reports PAP.

“Ukraine possesses unique technologies developed during the war, and we are ready to share them with Donald [Tusk] and our Polish partners,” said Zelensky.

Both leaders made reference to recent tensions between their countries, in particular over the Volhynia massacres during World War Two, in which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 Polish civilians.

“We may sometimes speak very directly, but if we are friends, we must openly discuss topics that are sensitive to both sides,” said Zelensky, quoted by PAP. “We are friends, and Russia is the enemy. If we begin a dialogue based on common understanding, we will manage everything.”

Tusk, meanwhile, thanked Zelensky “for your willingness to at least try to understand our Polish sensitivities” regarding “difficult, painful issues from the past”. He pledged to “always support Ukraine in your fight against aggression”, regardless of “adversities and negative trends”.

Meanwhile, Tusk expressed hope that the newly formed Carpathian Eight group of countries, which met today in that format for the first time, would help provide further impetus for Ukraine on its path towards European Union membership.

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 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

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.