Polish Foreign Minister warns US of "profound consequences" if aid to Ukraine is not approved

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has warned the US of "profound consequences" for US allies around the world if Congress fails to approve more than US$60 billion in aid to Ukraine.

Source: Bloomberg

Quote: "If the supplemental doesn’t go through, and US allies are disappointed and get the idea that the United States might not be able to deliver help even if the commander-in-chief wants to help you, that would have profound consequences for America’s global alliance."

Details: "Some countries will start hedging their bets, and others will consider developing their own nuclear weapons programs," Sikorski added.

The warning from Poland's top diplomat comes as EU member states are also trying to provide Ukraine with ammunition. The EU has already postponed its goal of providing Ukraine with 1 million shells by the end of the year. However, Sikorski said that Europe was getting closer to the goal, with a current production capacity of about 850,000 shells per year.

Sikorski also criticised Donald Trump's recent statement that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO countries that do not fulfil their military spending commitments to the alliance. He said that Warsaw spends more than 3% of its GDP on defence, which exceeds the military alliance's 2% target.

NATO's mutual defence pledge has only been invoked once – after the 9/11 attacks in the US – "and we all rallied around it," as Sikorski said. "Poland sent a brigade to Ghazni, a tough province in Afghanistan — and we didn’t send an invoice to Washington. A military alliance is not a neighbourhood security company," he added.

Background:

• Recently, Trump's statements had caused a stir among NATO allies. At one campaign event, Trump described how he threatened allies to "encourage Russia" to commit acts of aggression against them in order to force them to increase their contributions to NATO's collective security.
• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asked Trump not to undermine the deterrence system.

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