Warsaw he let it be known Kyiv what he doesn’t want to do further upgrade at Ukrainian Armed Forcesfor more than three months in the (so far ineffective) offensive against the Russian troops stationed along the river Crimea and the separatist republics.
The situation seems to have worsened after the Ukrainian president Zelensky At the most recent UN meeting, he strongly reprimanded some allied countries and accused them of not spending enough money on arms supplies to Ukraine.
The Polish government felt questioned and immediately called a meeting the Ukrainian ambassador ask for clarification. The reasons for this new strategy were explained by the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawieckiin a television interview in which he stated that Poland “will not supply more weapons to Ukraine because we are arming ourselves now,” we have to defend ourselves“.
The fact that Poland is Strengthening its military apparatus It is now common knowledge that the strengthening began before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has been taking a stance on the field for some time now Atlantic Allianceextremely relevant to American interests in Eastern Europe.
Poland is preparing to have one of these better equipped armies of NATO. The armored component will be implemented in the near future with the purchase of 1,000 South Korean tanks of the latest generation K-2 Black Panther180 of these are to be produced under license by 2026 self-propelled artillery is undergoing a notable restructuring with the acquisition of about 120 AHS-Krab howitzers derived from the South Korean company Hanwha Defense’s K-9 Thunder 155/52mm self-propelled cannon.
In addition, the Americans will provide 250 M-1A2 Abrams SEPvᴈ tanks, 32 fifth-generation F-35A Ligthning fighter-bombers and attack helicopters, presumably the AH-64E. From an armored vehicle perspective, these are figures not seen in Europe since that time Cold War.
So Warsaw replenishes its warehouses, but at the same time informs the Ukrainians that it no longer has any weapons to supply. But how much war material have the Poles delivered to Kiev so far? As for tanks, the Polish army sent the Ukrainian military about 290 T-72 tanks of various versions (T-72M; T-72A; T-72M1) and 14 Leopard 2A4s.
As for IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles), Warsaw supplied several dozen BMP-1s, poorly protected and outdated vehicles; as well as the 122 mm self-propelled guns 2S1, which were delivered in 20 copies, but proved ineffective against Russian artillery and were equipped with much more modern and powerful single-tube and multi-tube systems. There are also 18 brand new Krab self-propelled guns and 20 BM-21 Grad 122 mm field rocket launchers.
In short, looking at these numbers, it seems that the Poles sent their own to Ukraine old weaponsinherited from Warsaw Pactnow outdated so that they can be replaced by more modern and effective systems, obviously made in the West.
Poland has historically distrusted both the Germans and the Russians, but in the current geopolitical context it is Moscow that is of greatest concern. In addition to the ongoing conflict in a neighboring country, Poles have serious concernsKaliningrad enclaveabout 150 kilometers away Gdanska strip of land detached from the Russian motherland and projected towards the Baltic Sea, which is surrounded by NATO states.
Given the special geopolitical situation, Moscow has therefore taken steps in recent years to make the Kaliningrad enclave as “impermeable” as possible to a possible attack by the Alliance forces and to fortify it with the so-called A2/AD bubbles (anti- Access/Area-Denial), characterized by the presence of anti-ship, anti-aircraft/anti-ballistic, anti-submarine missile systems as well as EW systems and naval, underwater and air assets.
It cannot be ruled out with certainty that Kaliningrad will become a battleground between the alliance (the USA) and Russia in the future. From the enclave, the Russians could launch devastating attacks on Polish territory, so prioritization is necessary National security rather than continuing to supply weapons to an army that currently appears to be far from victory in the field.