Poland and Ukraine agree to cooperate on defense supplies

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, have agreed to step up cooperation on the supplies of defense equipment.

Zelensky met Morawiecki on Wednesday, during his official visit to Poland, and signed a letter of intent on cooperation in military equipment supplies, in particular the Polish-made Rosomak wheeled armoured personnel carrier.

Ukraine ordered 100 Rosomaks from Poland, Morawiecki said on Sunday.

After the meeting, Zelensky said that the talks had produced "a package for the Ukrainian armed forces, for the defence of Ukraine's freedom, for Poland's and the entire world's."

"It's very important that those who are in the trenches... in eastern and southern Ukraine know that here in Warsaw we have agreed that we'll give all the soldiers more strength, and we need this strength very much," the Ukrainian president said as he thanked Morawiecki for the support and cooperation.

Apart from the Rosomaks, Ukraine will also receive Rak self-propelled mortars, and "the very much needed Piorun anti-aircraft systems," Zelensky said.

"Together with our brothers we have decided today to establish joint works for manufacturing weapons and ammunition - our industry in this sector will become more effective," Zelensky continued.

Acknowledging Poland's role in creating the so-called 'tank coalition', in which Western countries committed to delivering a number of tanks to Ukraine, Zelensky said there was a need to set up a similar 'aviation' coalition.

Poland has offered Ukraine four of its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters, being the first country to offer combat jets to Ukraine. Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, said after a meeting with Zelensky earlier on Wednesday that four more MiG-29s were being prepared for Ukraine and vowed that ultimately Warsaw would hand over all of its MiG-29 jets to Kyiv.