Polish leaders discuss how to maintain and strengthen support for Ukraine at meeting with Biden

Preserving and strengthening support for Ukraine to resist Russian aggression was one of the topics of conversation between Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Source: This was reported by RMF24, European Pravda writes.

Details: In a press statement after the meeting, Duda said that Biden had asked for Warsaw's assessment of current events at the front for Ukraine and a strategic vision of the situation in general.

Quote: "There is no doubt that Russian imperialism has been revived and must be resolutely opposed. Russian imperialism must be stopped, and we have also talked about this," the Polish president said.

Tusk elaborated that they talked about the general situation with the assistance to Ukraine from the allies.

Quote: "We talked about how quickly American aid can be unblocked and exchanged comments on how we, the Poles, are mobilising the EU in this matter," the Prime Minister said, adding that European partners are asking whether they can count on consistency from Washington moving forward.

Tusk said he had stressed the importance of unblocking the next aid package for Ukraine, which is stuck in Congress, and Biden responded by saying he was optimistic.

Quote: "I hope that the voice of Poland and Europe will change the attitude of House Speaker Mike Johnson... This is not some political dispute that matters only in the American political arena. The absence of a positive solution will cost thousands of lives in Ukraine – children, women, and entire families. And he (Johnson) will be personally responsible for this," Tusk stressed.

Andrzej Duda said that they told Biden about Poland's initiative to increase the "target standard" of NATO countries' defence spending to 3% of GDP.

Quote: "It's not just about how much we spend on buying weapons. It's also about whether we can revive the defence industry in Europe on a large scale, whether we can produce enough ammunition relatively quickly to protect our countries and be able to help those who could potentially be attacked," Duda said.

Donald Tusk noted a great "unity of views" with the US president on almost all points brought up in the conversation.

Background:

• At the beginning of the meeting, Biden stressed that the US$300 million aid package for Ukraine, made up of unanticipated cost savings in US government contract fulfilment, was insufficient.
• The White House stressed that the visit of the Polish leaders coincides with the 25th anniversary of Poland's accession to NATO and underscored the joint unwavering commitment to the Alliance on the part of the United States and Poland.

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