“We see Poland as a model ally on the European continent,” said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in Warsaw. The head of the Polish Ministry of Defence, Władyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, added that the Polish-American alliance has never been as strong as it is now, but Europe needs to wake up and invest in the defence industry.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth visited Poland and spoke with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw. The two politicians then held a joint press conference.

Hegseth stressed that US ties with Poland are unwavering. 

“We see Poland as a model ally on the European continent that is willing to invest not only in its own defence, but also in the common defence and the defence of the continent as a whole as well,” the US Secretary of Defence said. 

The head of the Ministry of Defence thanked Hegseth for choosing Poland as the first place for his official bilateral foreign visit. 

“This is an expression of our partnership, common friendship, common security strategy for the United States, Poland, Europe and the whole world,” Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz pointed out.

As he relayed, the issue of the joint alliance and NATO was raised during the one-on-one and delegation talks. ‘The Polish-American alliance has never been as strong as it is now. We can do everything to develop it even more every day. This is what we agreed on, on joint investments, joint security guarantees, on raising our (defence) capabilities – PAP),’ – said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The head of the Ministry of Defence stressed that Poland wants to make more military purchases in the United States, and to develop the cooperation of our arms companies “to raise the production capacity, especially of munitions, the capacity of arms production, which is not sufficient in Europe at the moment”. 

“Europe needs to wake up, it needs to invest in the arms industry,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz.

Asked about the US administration’s strategy on Ukraine and Russia, the Pentagon chief said that President Donald Trump’s goal is to stop the violence and death and that a ceasefire “may be part of the goodwill at the beginning of the negotiations”. He said the Russian leader would declare victory anyway, regardless of the outcome of the talks.

The US SoD also met with the Polish President Andrzej Duda. 

“I firmly believe that Fort Trump will be built in our country,” President Andrzej Duda said after the meeting. 

The Polish president also expressed the hope that Donald Trump’s presidency would strengthen the Polish-American alliance, thereby strengthening Poland’s security.

The President said that during his conversation with the head of the Pentagon, he assured that the US could count on his support in increasing defence spending within NATO. 

He pointed out that Poland currently spends nearly 5 percent of its GDP precisely on defence. Thus, it is clear to him that Trump’s policy on increasing this spending will be supported by Poland.

Source: PAP

Photo:@SecDef

Tomasz Modrzejewski