Poland seen as model ally, US defence secretary says
Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, said after a meeting with Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw on Friday that Poland was "a model ally in Europe," as he praised the country's high defence-spending levels.
"We see Poland as a model ally in Europe," Hegseth said.
Poland has been spending close to 5 percent of its GDP on defence, well-above the NATO-recommended 2-percent level. However, this recommendation could soon be upped after US President Donald Trump complained on numerous occasions that allies contributed too little to common defence.
"European countries need to invest now in defence because it is not possible to assume that the United States' presence on the continent will last forever," Hegseth warned.
Poland's investments in armaments benefit not only its own defence but help to make the whole continent more secure, Hegseth added.
He also underscored strong US-Polish relations, calling Poland a strategic frontline partner on NATO's eastern flank.
Kosiniak-Kamysz praised what he called a stronger than ever alliance between the two countries.
He also expressed satisfaction that Hegseth had chosen Poland as the first country for his official visit.
"It reflects our partnership, mutual friendship, a joint defence strategy for the United States, Poland, Europe and the whole world," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The Polish minister said that he and Hegseth had reached an agreement to collaborate on joint investments and enhance defence capabilities.
Kosiniak-Kamysz expressed satisfaction that, despite sweeping government spending cuts already introduced or planned by the Trump administration, Poland would not be excluded from the Foreign Military Financing programme.
"A review of various types of spending is being carried out in the United States," Kosiniak-Kamysz said. "There's the Foreign Military Financing (programme - PAP), or a fund for, for example, the modernisation of the Polish Armed Forces, from which we have been benefiting in billions of dollars. Trump's executive orders on suspending the financing of various support programmes... do not cover Poland."
Hegseth said on Thursday evening that lasting peace for Ukraine must include security guarantees for Kyiv, but he dismissed the notion that US troops would be enforcing it.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump engaged in a 90-minute phone discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by conversations with Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, aimed at putting an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Nevertheless, certain remarks made by Trump and Hegseth have sparked apprehension among Western allies of Kyiv, as they suggested that Russia might retain some of the Ukrainian territories it has seized, and that Ukraine could be prevented from joining NATO. (PAP)
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