Key Ukraine Ally Announces Record-High Defense Budget

Poland, a key Ukraine ally, announced its record-high defense budget for next year on Wednesday.

The Eastern European country, which borders war-torn Ukraine, will spend roughly $48.5 billion (or 186 billion zlotys) next year on its military.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday that this new budget is "generous," with record-high spending on defense.

"It is a great effort, but there is no turning back from it," he said at a news conference.

Poland's 2024 defense budget accounts for more than 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Wziatek told Polish media that the country's 2025 defense budget will account for 4.7 percent of GDP.

Poland's record-high defense budget comes amid Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With Poland being a neighbor of both countries, security concerns have remained high.

Poland, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), has supported Ukraine throughout the war. The Eastern European country is a leader in NATO and the EU in defense spending and is currently making large purchases of military equipment, including from the United States and South Korea.

There have been fears that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is successful in his invasion of Ukraine, he will go after Poland or the Baltics next. However, last February, Putin said in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that Russia had no interest in invading "Poland, Latvia or anywhere else."

What Is the State of the Russian-Ukrainian War?

Earlier this month, Ukraine launched a surprise military operation in the Kursk region of Russia. It has been the largest incursion into Russian territory since World War II and has caused a shift in the war, which has mostly been fought within Ukrainian territory over the past two years.

While the Kursk operation has forced roughly 130,000 Russians to evacuate their homes, it is unclear to what extent the military campaign might be weakening Russia's positions in Ukraine.

Russia, meanwhile, has sent reinforcements into the Kursk region and, earlier this week, Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones across Ukraine, some of which were shot down by Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked the U.S. to lift restrictions on the weapons it supplies to the war-torn country so that Ukraine can fire them deep inside Russia to destroy key military infrastructure.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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