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Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has called on NATO members to raise their spending on defence to 3% of their GDP, saying the alliance must do more to match Russia’s efforts to increase its own military spending as the war in Ukraine continues.
Duda’s remarks were directed both at home, in Poland, and abroad, to NATO’s fellow European members. They came right before he and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Washington to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO.
Poland joined the alliance on March 12, 1999, together with the Czech Republic and Hungary.
“Poland is proud to have been a part of it for 25 years,” Duda said in a Monday evening address to his nation. “There has been and there is no better guarantor of security than the North Atlantic Alliance.”
‘Greater responsibility’
The Polish president said that as the war in Ukraine enters its third year, NATO countries should take “greater responsibility for the security of the entire alliance and intensively modernise and strengthen their troops”.
“In the face of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s growing imperial aspirations, the countries making up NATO must act boldly and uncompromisingly,” he added.
On Monday, NATO raised the flag of its 32nd member, Sweden, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Finland joined the alliance last year.
“Today, NATO is sending a clear and strong signal by welcoming Finland and Sweden into its ranks,” Duda said on Monday. “This is a historic event. Countries that have so far maintained a neutral status for years are joining the alliance. NATO is therefore significantly strengthened. However, further bold decisions are needed.”
‘Leading by example’
While NATO members agreed to increase their defence spending to 2% of GDP following Russia’s annexation of Crimea that same year, most members still fall short of that benchmark.
Poland, on the other hand, spends 4% of its GDP on defence, making it the member to spend the most in percentage terms as it modernised its military, while the U.S. is well above 3%.
Duda said that the two countries’ efforts put the US and Poland in a position to “lead by example and provide an inspiration for others.”
“The Russian Federation has switched its economy to war mode. It is allocating close to 30% of its annual budget to arm itself,” Duda argued in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Monday.
“This figure and other data coming out of Russia are alarming. Vladimir Putin’s regime poses the biggest threat to global peace since the end of the Cold War.”
The Biden administration has suggested Duda’s goal of 3% for all NATO members might be overly ambitious, at least for now.
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Ukraine has launched its first football club for amputee veterans, providing wounded soldiers with a therapeutic outlet and a chance to regain their strength.
Bohdan Melnyk, who coaches the team in Lviv, western Ukraine, told Euronews that he prefers rehabilitation training.
"It’s better for me to work with amputee players," he said, "because I am providing physical support through coaching but also psychological support.”
Most of the soldiers on the team suffered severe injuries while in combat.
"You could feel some different emotions but for me, I think that football always was some kind of therapy, when I can relax, when I could regenerate my mind. I could just forget about anything just playing football, just concentrating on the thing which I love," said veteran Valentin Osovskyy.
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The team's determination extends beyond recreation; they recently showcased their resilience at an international championship.
"[We played a] tournament, for example, and it was in Poland," Osovskyy says. "For us maybe it was kind of revenge to show that Ukra？ne's spirit is unbreakable and I want to show that we are strong and we are proceeding to fight."
Some 40,000 people, mostly soldiers, have lost limbs as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office.
Back on the battlefield, Kyiv’s forces are hoping for more military supplies from Ukraine’s Western partners, but in the meantime are struggling against a bigger and better-provisioned Russian army that is pressing hard at certain front-line points inside Ukraine.
The club aims to inspire other former soldiers and promote the sport's therapeutic benefits.
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Poland’s president and prime minister will visit the White House on Tuesday in an attempt to spur the US to send more aid to Ukraine, at a time when the new funds remain stalled in Congress.
US President Joe Biden invited Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk for meetings to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO, a historic step for the country after breaking free from Moscow’s sphere of influence.
Duda and Tusk will also meet with US lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday, asking them to pass a new package delivering military aid to Kyiv and break the standoff between Congress's two parties. While the Senate has passed a $118 billion (€108 billion) bipartisan package including $60 billion (€55 billion) in Ukraine funding, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is refusing to bring it to the floor for a vote.
The visit comes at a time when Poland is trying to motivate the West to increase its defence spending to match Russia’s efforts.
“The war in Ukraine has clearly shown that the United States is and should remain the leader in security issues in Europe and the world,” Duda said in an address to his country on Monday.
“However, other NATO countries must also take greater responsibility for the security of the entire alliance and intensively modernise and strengthen their troops.”
Speaking to reporters before boarding his plane in Warsaw, Duda said that while the talks in Washington would celebrate an anniversary, they would above all focus on European security going forward and "about Russian imperial policy, which has returned.”
Polish media noted that this trip will be the first time in a quarter-century that a Polish president and prime minister have both visited Washington at the same time, highlighting the seriousness of this historical moment.
Concerns are growing over the future of the conflict in Ukraine, as Kyiv is currently running low on ammunition and needs to have its stocks replenished soon. At the same time, Russia appears to be gaining ground on the battlefield, a major contrast to the weakness and disorganisation its forces displayed in 2022 and much of 2023.
The visit will also give Biden a chance to articulate how he views the role of NATO in the near future.
His rival Donald Trump, whom he’s likely to face in a rematch at the November 5 election, recently said that were he to retake the White House, NATO countries who do not contribute their "fair share" to the alliance would be left at Russia's mercy.