Poland demands full reimbursement for arms sent to Ukraine

Poland is demanding full reimbursement for weapons it has supplied to Ukraine, setting up a dispute with other European Union member states over the allocation of funds from the European Peace Facility (EPF), according to RMF 24.

Germany wants the €6.6 billion recently unblocked by Hungary from the fund to be transferred in full to Ukraine. Poland, by contrast, says it will fight to recover every euro it is owed.

Warsaw is seeking full reimbursement of approximately €450 million for arms delivered to Ukraine, a position outlined by Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk. Concerns that Poland might not receive full compensation were raised earlier by an RMF FM journalist following a meeting of EU defence ministers in Nicosia.

However, only the €6.6 billion currently available in Brussels — after being released by Budapest — can be distributed.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has proposed dividing the funds to include partial, proportional compensation (around 10%), support for a training mission for Ukrainian forces, and joint procurement of weapons for Ukraine.

Poland has rejected this plan. “These funds are our funds,” Tomczyk said, pledging to fight for every euro. “In practice, reducing these funds means less money for the army,” he added. Warsaw has accused Brussels of “trying to change the rules during the game.”

Germany, which is the largest contributor to the EPF in percentage terms, believes the unblocked funds should be directed to Ukraine rather than returned to national budgets.

A Polish diplomat, however, presented a different view: “Countries that first transferred weapons, such as Poland or Slovakia, and whose contributions have already been accounted for and approved for payment, do not want to agree to a reduction in reimbursements. And this is precisely what countries that started providing support later, such as Germany, want.”

Scandinavian countries broadly share Germany’s position. France is also closer to Kallas’s proposal than to Poland’s stance, as its contributions to the fund have been relatively limited and, therefore, the expected reimbursement would not be substantial.

Poland, meanwhile, has received support from Slovakia, which was the first to state that it would demand full reimbursement for weapons supplied to Ukraine.

By Tamilla Hasanova