Poland’s defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak attended the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group chaired by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the US base in Ramstein, Germany.
Błaszczak attended the meeting along with dozens of other defense ministers and was pleased that they made progress with coordinating help for Ukraine’s war effort, especially on supply of heavy artillery and air defenses.
He added that this was not just a NATO meeting but rather a coalition of those willing to back Ukraine. “Its important to support Ukraine’s needs. These were presented by Minister Oleksy Reznikov and his military commanders. They need heavy weaponry and air defense weapons,” he said.
Poland’s defense chief had a one-on-one meeting with Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov who thanked Poland for its contribution. Poland was singled out by the Ukrainians as a country that had been active in helping Ukraine militarily well ahead of the current invasion.
Mariusz Błaszczak confirmed that the weapons being transferred from Poland to Ukraine will be replaced by new equipment and that his talks in Washington last week concentrated on speeding up the deliveries of Patriot missiles, Abrams tanks, HIMARS missile launchers and F-35 fighter planes to Poland.
In his speech at the meeting in Ramstein, Błaszczak emphasized the importance of Ukrainian independence for the security of Poland, the east flank of NATO and the whole of Europe, even the world. He said that it was now clear who Putin was, even for Germany, but Blaszczak said he is also of the opinion that Germany needed to do more to stop its imports of gas if it was to stop financing Putin’s war machine.
