Poland has announced that it will stop supplying weapons to Ukraine amid a growing rift between the two countries over grain.
“We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday evening. “We are mainly focusing on modernizing and rapidly arming the Polish army, so that it becomes one of the most powerful land armies in Europe.”
However, Warsaw has clarified that it will send its previously committed weapons shipments to Kyiv. A government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, said that the country would only provide the previously agreed supplies of ammunition and armaments.
Rising tensions
Tensions between the two allies have been rising in recent weeks over a ban on Ukrainian grain, put in place to protect the livelihood of local EU farmers.
Poland’s reaction came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Warsaw for continuing to ban Ukrainian grain imports.
Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly this week that “It is alarming to see how some in Europe, some of our friends in Europe, play out solidarity in a political theater – making a thriller from the grain.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki instantly responded on social media, saying: “We no longer transfer weapons to Ukraine because we are now arming Poland.”
Never ‘insult Poles again,’ Poland’s PM tells Zelenskyy
Following Ukrainian leader’s veiled criticism of Poland at the United Nations general assembly, Polish prime minister made fiery comments at a rally in Swidnik, Poland.
“I want to tell President Zelenskyy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the UN,” he said.
“The Polish people will never allow this to happen, and defending the good name of Poland is not only my duty and honor, but also the most important task of the Polish government,” the Polish prime minister added.