On the eve of the NATO summit in Washington, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed a bilateral security agreement in Warsaw. “Those who are defending Ukraine today are also defending themselves,” Tusk said.
The President of Ukraine called the agreement “ambitious”. “It is able to protect the lives of our people and resist Russian evil,” Selenskyy said. The agreement provides for the development of a mechanism by which “Russian missiles and drones fired in the direction of Poland can be shot down in Ukrainian airspace.”
Zelenskyy arrived in Poland on the day of fierce Russian missile attacks on his country that killed at least 26 people. A major children’s hospital in Kyiv was damaged. “There are no words, no documents, no political statements that would be enough to condemn the aggressor,” Tusk said.
Poland, a member of the EU and NATO, is one of the staunchest political and military supporters of Ukraine under attack by Russia. It also serves as an important hub for Western military aid to Kyiv. Poland has also hosted nearly a million refugees from its neighboring country.
Ukraine has concluded security agreements with the EU and 19 individual states, including the United States, Japan, and Germany. They formalize the military and civilian support already provided and offer the prospect of further assistance for an initial period of ten years.
In the afternoon, Selensky will meet with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. The NATO summit on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the defense alliance will be held in Washington from July 9 to 11. The heads of state and government of the alliance’s 32 member states are expected to discuss, among other things, further assistance to Ukraine. Zelenskyy is also invited to the meeting. With the airspace over Ukraine closed since the start of the war, Zelenskiy must use the land route through Poland for all foreign travel before he can continue his journey by plane from there.
Source: https://www.zeit.de/news/2024-07/08/polen-und-ukraine-unterzeichnen-sicherheitsabkommen
