Poland, Slovakia not planning to send their troops to Ukraine - presidents

Warsaw and Bratislava do not intend to send their troops to Ukraine, but concentrate their efforts on helping Ukraine.

The presidents of Poland and Slovakia, Andrzej Duda and Peter Pellegrini, announced this during a joint press conference in Warsaw on Thursday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

Duda said he does not see significant disagreements with President Pellegrini on the issue of Russian aggression and support for Ukraine.

"I also do not think that Poland should send its troops to Ukraine today. That would be dragging a NATO country into the war, which is very serious," Duda said.

He added that until now Poland's position on the international stage was clear: Warsaw provides military aid to Kyiv, but will not send its troops to Ukraine.

Read also: Slovakia and Poland have different positions on Ukraine's integration into NATO

Duda recalled that Poland had provided Ukraine with "a huge amount" of weapons, including almost 350 tanks, more than 100 armored personnel carriers, and continued to transfer Krab self-propelled howitzers and ammunition. The total amount of military aid sent to Ukraine stands at billions of U.S. dollars, he added.

"We train Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, but we do not send our soldiers to Ukraine. And I hope that we will never be forced to send our troops to Ukraine, so that they would defend Poland and NATO there. I hope that there will not be such a need, and Russia will not lead to such a situation," Duda said.

He noted that Russia cannot win this war, because it would be a huge threat to the world, since "Russian imperialism will continue to want to seize new territories and enslave other countries."

Pellegrini, in turn, stressed that he as president would "never agree to send the Slovak military to Ukraine to participate in hostilities." According to him, this position is "unchanged."

Pellegrini noted that Slovakia is training Ukrainian military personnel on its territory. He also confirmed that the current Slovak government does not transfer any lethal weapons to Ukraine.

Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka