– Poland has so far donated as much equipment as the equipment of 1 division, out of 4 operating in the Polish Army “In an interview with PAP, military analyst Tomasz Dmitruk said.
According to estimates, Poland donated to Ukraine about 350 tanks, about 250 BWP-1 combat vehicles, about 100 Rosomak transporters, over a 100 self-propelled guns – including respective twelve Krab guns and dozens of rocket launchers.
– Such a quantity of equipment corresponds about to the equipment of 1 division, with 4 presently existing in the Polish Army (two more are in the forming phase – ed.) – said Tomasz Dmitrik, analyst of the "Army Journal".
According to the expert, it was peculiarly crucial to supply equipment which reached Ukraine in the first period after the invasion, "before the Western states even mobilized" – clearly affecting the capabilities of Ukrainian troops, but negatively affecting the operational capabilities of the Polish Army.
– What has already been passed on has caused a temporary weakening of the capabilities of the Armed Forces – but it is temporary, due to the fact that we have already ordered equipment that compensates for all this assistance given to Ukraine – orders from South Korea or the US actually cover it all, and with excess. Although many of these supplies have not yet been full met Dmitruk said.
– On the another hand, at the minute we do not have the financial resources to hand over another equipment and order a fresh 1 for our own money again, for example due to the fact that we have an excessive deficit procedure (initiated by the EU-ED Council) and without the agreement of the Union our ability to further increase debt for defence purposes is severely limited – indicated the researcher.
Dmitri besides agreed with the opinion that handing over equipment to Ukrainian soldiers, which they know and can usage to defend against the Russians, is the optimal solution for these ageing machines, which in many cases would no longer be usable in a fewer years. As he said, there would be inactive any equipment in Polish magazines, including the russian one, which Poland could theoretically hand over to Ukraine, but, as he pointed out, there is no possible of replacing it quickly.
– But it can besides not be that Poland transmits this equipment, and any countries richer than us do not even want to cover the costs of this equipment that we transfer. As a country bordering Russia and Belarus, however, we must buy something else in return, and here it is that neither we want to compensate for this donation financially or with Western production equipment, nor let us to mitigate the conditions of the excessive deficit procedure so that we can get credit for the acquisition of fresh equipment in exchange for the 1 we would hand over to the Ukrainian side – he said.
The analyst added that, in his opinion, further support of Ukraine by Poland, including the russian equipment remaining in the military retention facilities, would only be possible if Poland came to an agreement with its allies as well as with the European Union on compensation for the equipment transferred. However, so far specified solutions have not been negotiated.
Source: PAP / Develop. TG
