Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said Poland will be a member of a European coalition dedicated to countering ballistic missiles threats, and will partner with Ukraine. Speaking at a joint press conference with Zelenskyy in Ukraine on Friday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked his host for the announcement and said that failure to include Poland in the coalition’s original launch in Paris in July was “some sort of misunderstanding.” Zelenskyy created the coalition of nine countries, aimed at developing a joint European defense system against ballistic missiles, against a backdrop of heightened diplomatic strain between Kyiv and Warsaw. “Now it is clear that Poland will also be part of this initiative, Tusk said. ‘Poland welcome’ Zelenskyy said he was “100% convinced” that the coalition would build a ballistic missile defense capability and that “[Poland] will be welcome.” “We will be partners,” he said. Tusk said the coalition—also grouping France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden—is of an industrial nature and that Poland’s defense sector firms are “analyzing their possibilities.” The two leaders were speaking after talks of a new regional cooperation format dubbed the ‘Carpathian Eight’ aimed at strengthening ties between countries of the region and the European Union.
