Poland will not fund purchase of US weapons for Ukraine: "We spend a lot on defence"

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said Poland will not, for now, fund purchases of US-made weapons for Ukraine under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme because of its high defence spending. The US-NATO programme enables NATO allies to purchase American weapons for Ukraine.

Source: Tusk at a press briefing after an informal summit of EU leaders in Dublin; European Pravda

Details: Tusk said he has informed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Poland will not contribute to funding PURL for the time being.

Quote: "I told the secretary general that, for now, we will not allocate funds to PURL, under which European countries pay for American weapons for Ukraine, because we are spending so much on weapons for our own forces.

We have provided and continue to provide substantial assistance to Ukraine. We have a large deficit and spend heavily on defence. So I explained that, given our financial position, Poland will not contribute any more money because we have our own security expenditure, which is probably among the highest in Europe."

Background:

• On 30 October, Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, confirmed reports that Poland was preparing to transfer two Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
• In return, Ukraine agreed to provide Poland with technology to counter drones.
• On 10 November, Ukraine and Poland signed an agreement to establish joint working groups on drone and counter-drone technologies.

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