Poland to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine

Ukrainian soldiers sit on their Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) vehicle in the eastern Ukrainian town of Druzhkovka, Ukraine, 19 August 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet for talks next week in Belarus, the Kremlin said 19 August. Photo: PAP/EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

The Polish Defence Ministry has announced that it is to send huminatarian aid for Ukrainian troops, with the first such shipment of supplies billed to be sent to the westwen Ukrainian city of Lviv next week.

As John Beauchamp reports, in total around 320 tons of Polish supplies are to be sent to Ukraine, such as food supplies and bedding.

With the decision made on the basis of a bilaterial agreement between the respective defence ministries, questions are now being raised as to whether more direct aid from Warsaw should be sent eastwards.

In the opinion of the former deputy defence minister General Waldemar Skrzypczak, military aid for Ukraine is absolutely necessary.

“Ukraine has an economic problem because it is engaged in a conflict with Russia, its state budget is in ruins and in a few months the country will have a serious problem; certainly the army, whose supplies are running out and fewer resources to fight against the pro-Russian separatists,” Skrzypczak said.