President Andrzej Duda, First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak spoke to Polish troops at the defence ministry in Warsaw on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
They also talked via video link to some of the over 2,000 Polish soldiers currently serving on foreign missions, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the Mediterranean Sea, Iraq and Lebanon, officials said.
‘We thank you for your service from the bottom of our hearts’
Addressing the gathering, the president said: “We are meeting at a difficult time. For more than a year, Russia has been continuing its aggression against Ukraine. I don’t need to spell out, especially here, what it means for security in our part of Europe.”
Duda added that both he and the defence minister "very much wanted to meet Polish troops ahead of Easter."
He said: “This is to assure you that the unity of the Republic of Poland, also when it comes to overseeing the defence of the state, is maintained.”
The president also said that "the current difficult time” began with a "hybrid attack" on Poland’s border with Belarus, “when you had to serve on Poland’s eastern frontier, in the cold, in the dark, and guard the Polish border, whether in the field or on a riverbank, and above all to guard the security of our homeland.”
He declared: “For this exceptionally dedicated, efficient and necessary service, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Support for Ukraine
Duda also thanked the troops for supporting other nations, including for providing weapons to Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion.
He said: “I thank you for accepting the fact that you are giving your well-looked-after weapons, such as combat vehicles, tanks and other armaments, to our neighbours, who are defending their country.”
New weapons for Polish army
He added that "the decision to part with the hardware" had been “difficult,” but stressed that Polish weapons used by Ukraine were "also helping defend the security of Poland,” and that they were being "replaced with super-advanced armaments.”
Duda said the Polish army was in need of new tanks, armoured personnel carriers and fighter jets, and was already being provided with K2 tanks and K9 gun howitzers from South Korea.
The president noted that he and the defence minister had recently watched Polish soldiers practice firing from these machines.
“I’ve never seen tank troops as delighted as when they fired from the K2 tanks,” Duda said. “When they were describing this equipment, their enthusiasm told me everything. It was evident. It’s understood without words. I didn’t need to ask about any details.”
In conclusion, Duda said his wish for Polish soldiers was that they would never have to use their new hardware, that it would provide “sufficient protection to deter any attack.”
‘Thanks to your service, our homeland is secure’: defence minister
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Błaszczak, who is also a deputy prime minister, thanked the troops “for your everyday service, which is full of sacrifice, and for your commitment.”
He added: “Thanks to your service, our homeland is secure.”
Friday is day 408 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl