Sept 18 (Reuters) – Poland has joined an anti-ballistic missile coalition with Ukraine and other allies, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
“From today, Poland is part of this major project … we agreed on the forms and frameworks of this cooperation,” Tusk said in a video posted on X.
Tusk attended a summit on Friday of a new regional grouping of eight Carpathian countries, held in western Ukraine and launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine and nine European countries announced in July an air-defence coalition that would include jointly developing a new anti-ballistic missile system as an alternative and cheaper solution to the US Patriot system.
Tusk told a press conference at the summit that Poland has prepared a new “significant” donation package for Ukraine, without giving further detail.
“I will be very consistent here. No one will change my opinion that Poland has to support Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression … History cannot divide us vis-a-vis Russia today,” Tusk said.
After his bilateral meeting with Tusk at the summit, Zelenskiy thanked Poland for the new aid package.
“Ukraine and Poland are strong neighbors, friends, and partners, and we have one common enemy,” he said on the Telegram app.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk and Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
