Polish Government Decides to Send More Military Equipment to Ukraine

The Information Center (Centrum Informacyjne, CI) at the Polish government announced that the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on a free-of-charge transfer of military property, coming from the Polish Armed Forces' stock to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The resolution was submitted by the head of the Ministry of Defence. The government's information body emphasizes the fact that the above gesture serves as an expression of Polish solidarity with Ukraine, in the light of the Russian threat. The support provided is to take on a form of free-of-charge deliveries of the military equipment.

This is yet another resolution adopted by the Council of Ministers, regarding that matter. Similarly to the former resolution, that had been issued on 1st February, it was adopted following a request submitted by the head of the Polish Ministry of Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak. The earlier document referred to a transfer of Piorun MANPADS and ammunition stock. The CIR (Government's Information Center) has not announced what specific equipment is covered by the current resolution.

The public statements made by the politicians, including Paweł Soloch, the head of the National Security Bureau, and PM Mateusz Morawiecki, both suggest that these deliveries may concern munitions (including anti-aircraft ammunition - apart from missiles, also destined for the 23 mm AAA systems), and weapons manufactured by the ZM Tarnów facility - such as the light 60 mm mortars. Artillery ammunition for Soviet-made 122 or 152 mm artillery assets could also be potentially transferred to Ukraine. Prague, for instance, decided to transfer 4 thousand 152 mm artillery rounds. As the CIR's release mentions "ingredients of military property", alongside weapons and ammunition, Poland may also decide to deliver pieces of individual kit.

The CIR claims that the "decision to transfer the military property has been made based on analysis, taking into account the necessity to secure the ongoing activities of the Polish Armed Forces, and maintain the required levels of the inventory stock in our military. This means that the transfer of military equipment to the eastern neighbour would not diminish the combat readiness of the Polish military units." The equipment is to be readied for transport by the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, while the handoff would be made by the authorized representatives of the Armed Forces of both countries.

Poland has found itself among the NATO member states delivering weapons to Ukraine, facing the Russian threat. The United States of America have shown relatively the highest levels of involvement, with the delivery of Javelin ATGMs, anti-tank weapons, machine guns, sniper rifles, 40 mm grenades, along with the UK - delivering the NLAW anti-tank weapon system.

Poland and the Czech Republic also announced their willingness to get involved, along with the Baltic States. The latter would transfer US-made weapons to Ukraine, as authorized by the US: FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS (Lithuania, Latvia), and Javelin ATGMs (Estonia). Tallinn has not been authorized by Germany to deliver the D-30 howitzers to Ukraine - Estonia received those from the Bundeswehr's surplus stock, and these guns had been previously used by the Army of the German Democratic Republic. Berlin declared that it would deliver only helmets and medical equipment, despite numerous requests Kyiv has been making in the last months.