President Andrzej Duda said on his return from Lwów (now Lviv) that Poland was ready to provide Ukraine, as part of an international coalition, with a company of Leopard 2A4 tanks. As he explained, the idea is to invite a whole range of countries to contribute tanks that will create a serious blockade to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“We will be asking internationally for organizing this coalition by a whole range of countries to contribute tanks, so that a larger tank unit can be formed. A company of tanks is a small, I would even say a symbolic unit, whereas if there are more such companies, a brigade combat group or an even larger military unit would be created and it would be actually of great military significance for the defence of Ukraine. This is what we want to achieve”, declared Duda.

President Andrzej Duda visited Lviv with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski. Talks between the three presidents focused on the defence of Ukraine and the security of our part of Europe.

The visit to Lviv also had symbolic elements. One of these was the signing of a joint declaration by the three presidents.

“In this joint declaration, it is stated that our three nations have historically faced aggression from the east, that we have faced the evil that came at us from the east and wanted to crush us. This is how our three nations stood up in the January Uprising”, said the President.

The second symbolic element was the visit of the presidents of Poland and Ukraine to the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów.

“The defenders of the Polish Republic, the defenders of Lwów against Soviet aggression, the Lwów Eaglets, are buried in this cemetery. There, together, we paid tribute to the fallen Polish soldiers, we also paid tribute to the Ukrainian soldiers who have died defending Ukraine since 2014 and to those who fought earlier, shoulder to shoulder with Polish soldiers, defending the Polish Republic”, said the president.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński