Andrzej Duda made the statement during a speech in the southeastern city of Kielce on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Addressing the audience at the annual International Defence Industry Exhibition, the president said: “The time of peace has ended abruptly, the time when wars happened on other continents and when we viewed them solely in terms of potential military contingents.”
Duda stressed that the Polish army must be modernised and expanded "to make sure that all our compatriots, the Republic of Poland, all of us, are secure.”
'Our soldiers should be armed to the teeth'
The president went on to say: “our soldiers should be armed to the teeth, so that nobody attacks us, and so that we never have to make use of these arms in combat practice.”
Duda noted the weapons purchases made recently by the Polish government, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the PAP news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, in the president's presence, Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Błaszczak signed an EUR 800 million contract to buy 48 Krab gun howitzers for the Polish army.
The president stressed that the Polish-made Krab howitzers had earlier been supplied to Ukraine and were “performing excellently on the battlefield” against the invading Russian forces.
“I discussed this personally with President Volodymyr Zelensky,” Duda told reporters.
Monday was day 194 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, prezydent.pl