Poland in a show of utter defiance has sent reinforcements to Ukraine despite earlier warnings from Russia.
The country has supplied their neighbours with equipment, such as dozens of infantry fighting vehicles and the 2S1 Carnation self-propelled howitzers, drones, Grad multiple rocket launchers and Piorun (Thunderbolt) man-portable air defense systems.
It has also sent over 200 T-72 tanks over the past few weeks, CNN reports, quoting Polskie Radio, Poland’s national public-service radio.
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The report said that Poland has so far provided military equipment worth $1.6 billion to Ukraine.
Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki made this disclosure last week.
This move, however, is against Russia’s earlier warning that any country, especially in the European Union that provides lethal weapons to Ukraine during the ongoing war, would face the consequences.
Russia’s Gazprom also recently suspended gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, citing the two countries’ refusal to pay in Russian roubles, prompting accusations of “blackmail” and emergency talks at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.
In a statement yesterday, the Russian energy giant said it has “completely suspended gas supplies” to Poland’s PGNiG and Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz “due to absence of payments in roubles”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the move was the result of “unprecedented unfriendly steps in the economic sphere and the financial sector, which were taken against us by unfriendly countries.”
The cut-offs are the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last month that “unfriendly foreign buyers” would have to transact with Gazprom in roubles instead of United States dollars and euros. The demand was a response to international sanctions over its war in Ukraine.