Poland sent the first batches of ammunition to Ukraine even before the start of the war, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told Polska Metropolia Warszawska.

“We sent the first supplies of ammunition to Ukraine even before the start of the war,” said the head of the Polish Ministry of Defense, stressing that this “forced us to speed up the work on equipping the Polish army even more.”

“After the brutal attack on independent Ukraine, we are making even larger purchases of weapons and military equipment, both from the USA, South Korea, and from Polish arms factories. The support we provided to Ukraine – and let me remind you that we sent the first supplies of ammunition to Ukraine even before the start of the war – forced us to accelerate the work of equipping the Polish army even more. We must be ready for any circumstances,” said the Polish Minister of Defense.

He emphasized that Poland is at the forefront of supporting Ukraine. “To date, we have supplied the Armed Forces of Ukraine with T-72 tanks, artillery shells and ammunition, portable anti-aircraft missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and winged munitions, etc.,” Blaschak said.

In total, last year, Poland transferred 2.2 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Friday, a year after the Russian invasion, bringing with him the first German-made Leopard 2 tanks that Warsaw had promised Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Poland is the first country that promised Western tanks to Ukraine

On January 11 of this year, the government in Warsaw became the first partner of Kyiv to announce the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks manufactured in a western country to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Officials in Kyiv have been requesting Western tanks, including the German Leopard, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, but until then their Western partners had only supplied them with refurbished or upgraded Soviet combat vehicles.

But last month, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that his country would transfer a company of 14 Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a “coalition under construction.”

“As you know, a number of formal requirements must be met, [obținerea de] agreements, etc. First of all, we want it to be an international coalition,” he explained during a press conference he held together with his colleagues from Kyiv and Vilnius in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

After weeks of standoff and tense negotiations between Berlin, Warsaw and other states that wanted to increase military support for Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz finally announced on January 25 that his government would send a company of Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.

He also stated that Germany will allow states that have such German-made tanks to hand them over to Ukraine if they so wish. The rules for the purchase of military equipment between NATO member states provide for this mandatory condition for the transfer of weapons to a third country.

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