Poland has provided Ukraine military support worth the equivalent of around €8.4 billion ($9 billion) over the past two years, the government said on Thursday.
A total of 44 armaments packages have been handed over to Kiev, said Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski during a keynote speech in the Polish parliament.
Poland has provided Ukraine with 300 tanks and combat vehicles, 14 fighter planes, plus helicopters, air defence systems and ammunition, military experts say.
The foreign minister went on to say that Poland had spent €16 billion on humanitarian aid in Ukraine itself and on supporting Ukrainian war refugees in Poland since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022.
Some 950,000 people from Ukraine have received a temporary personal identification number – known as a PESEL – in Poland, he said. The ID makes it easier to deal with the authorities and the state health care system.
The PESEL number is used by Poland as a basis for determining the number of people seeking protection. However, the number of Ukrainians that Poland has taken in is probably many times higher, said Sikorski.
Poland’s top diplomat called on the West to resolutely support Ukraine.
“We are faced with a simple alternative: we could be confronted with a defeated Russian army stationed on Ukraine’s eastern border or with a victorious army on Poland’s eastern border.”
Sikorski also warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against attacking a NATO country.
“It is not we – the West – who should fear a confrontation with Putin, but the other way round,” he said, adding: “Putin’s only hope is our lack of determination.”
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