Mateusz Morawiecki made the remark on a visit to troops from a NATO multinational battle group on Sunday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Speaking at a training ground in the northeastern Polish town of Orzysz, Morawiecki said: “We are strengthening the Polish army as the basis of our security."
He added: “Thanks to fixing public finances, we have been able to radically improve the Polish military, to equip it with better weapons, made domestically as well as bought from abroad.”
'Poland is strong thanks to a strong army and strong alliances'
Morawiecki said that “Poland is strong thanks to a strong army and strong alliances.” He praised last week’s NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, for “strengthening the Polish army and the alliance’s eastern front.”
He also thanked the commanders of the American, British, Romanian and Croatian forces that took part in Sunday’s exercises.
He was accompanied in Orzysz by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, who said: “These drills prove that the allied forces are ready to deter the aggressor. They also prove that we are very serious about our allied commitments.”
Mariusz Błaszczak. Photo: Andrzej Gralewski/Polish Radio
Defence spending to be raised to 5 percent of GDP: ruling party leader
Meanwhile, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s ruling conservatives, said that Poland would raise its defence spending to 3 percent to GDP next year, and to 5 percent of GDP in the longer term.
Speaking at a rally in the southern Polish city of Kielce on Sunday, Kaczyński stated: “Only a Poland that is strong through its army and its patriotism will deter any attacks.”
Jarosław KaczyńskI. PAP/Tytus Żmijewski
500 HIMARS rocket launchers, 6-7 divisions of troops
He added that Poland sought to have 500 US-produced HIMARS light multiple rocket launchers as well as "six to seven divisions of troops at its disposal," among other military assets.
“We have to have an army that will be able to deter the Russians,” Kaczyński said.
Monday is day 131 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, polskatimes.pl