Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed bilateral security agreement with Poland in Warsaw on Monday — aimed at strengthening ties with one of the country’s closest wartime allies.
Poland has already provided 44 military aid packages to Ukraine worth €4 billion and has pledged to provide several more this year and into the next decade.
“Only together can Ukraine and Poland be free and strong. This is the sole way we can defend ourselves against Russian terror and protect our freedom and independence,” Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a joint statement.
Poland has also pledged further training for Ukrainian forces and to continue to function as Kyiv’s logistics hub, facilitating deliveries of Western weapons through its territory.
Ukraine promised to reform, to share intelligence and lessons it has learned on the battlefield with Warsaw, and to contribute to modernizing the Polish military, the Ukrainian president’s office said in a statement.
“We treat every word in this agreement as mutual commitments — not empty promises,” Tusk said, adding: “We know very well that this war, if it ended badly, would end badly not only for Ukraine, but also for Poland, for all of Europe and the entire Western world.”
Ukraine has so far signed such 20 bilateral security deals with its allies; Poland brings the total to 21. They include concrete provisions for long-term military and financial aid and training for Ukrainian troops, as well as weapons deliveries, but they do not oblige the signatories to go to war on Ukraine’s behalf.
Kyiv hopes the deals will become its own NATO-lite until it is allowed to join the alliance — an issue that will be discussed at this week’s alliance summit in Washington. However, none of the deals are treaties, and their non-binding status makes them fragile as future governments might easily back out.
The Polish agreement has several unique points compared to the other agreements Ukraine has signed.
Poland agreed to encourage Ukrainian citizens to return to Ukraine to serve in the Ukrainian military at the request of Kyiv. Well over 1 million Ukrainian refugees live in Poland.
Zelenskyy and Tusk also agreed to discuss the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles and drones fired in the direction of Poland. Several such weapons have crossed over Poland’s airspace, but Warsaw has not intercepted them.
Warsaw will also consider delivering of a squadron of MiG-29 fighters as long as that does not undermine its own security, the agreement says. Poland has already donated 10 of its Soviet-era jets to Ukraine.
“I said very clearly: We will help, because your security is our security, but we will not do anything that will weaken our immediate security, that is, our capabilities. We are talking here about jet fighters, and about armaments that are sometimes as necessary for Poland as for Ukraine,” Tusk said.
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