Estonian defmin in Warsaw: Ammunition is crucial in attrition warfare

TALLINN - Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur met with Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the new minister of national defense of Poland, in Warsaw on Friday, where, when speaking about the war in Ukraine, he said that ammunition is crucial in attrition warfare.

"As countries on NATO's eastern flank, we have a common understanding of the potential threat, defense needs and support for Ukraine. We discussed with Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz how to implement the one million shells initiative promised to Ukraine and how to best use the next informal meeting of defense ministers of the European Union for this purpose. In a war of attrition, ammunition is crucial -- everyone must live up to their promises," Pevkur said.

"It was a pleasure to greet an old colleague in a new role -- namely, we were social affairs ministers at the same time almost 13 years ago. It was also a pleasure to thank my colleague for the continued good defense cooperation between Poland and Estonia, which has been strengthening in recent years. For example, we currently have Polish fighters at Amari in order to secure our airspace and just last week we received short-range air defense systems Piorun acquired through a joint procurement between Estonia and Poland," the minister added.

Under the leadership of the previous government, Poland significantly increased defense spending and organized large-scale defense procurement. In 2023, Poland spent 3.9 percent of GDP on defense, and now in 2024 it will rise to 4.2 percent, or more than 38 billion US dollars. Poland has provided Ukraine with military aid worth more than four billion euros, which is 0.68 percent of Poland's GDP.

The new Polish government took office on Dec. 13. Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz is the chairman of the coalition partner Polish People's Party.