Poland, Germany, France, and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop land-based cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometres at the NATO summit in Washington.
The agreement fills a gap in European defence caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the need to supply it from EU stockpiles. The document was signed by Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, his German counterpart Boris Pistorius, France’s Sébastien Lecornu, and Italy’s Guido Crosetto. Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X:
The aim of the agreement is to forge cooperation that, in the future, will enable joint (defence) projects and shorten their implementation.
Lecornu stated that “the idea is to open it up as widely as possible.” He also suggested that a new UK Labour government led by Keir Starmer could join the four-nation pact.
A first draft of the long-range missile document was expected to be published by the end of 2024, with details such as specifications to be worked out later, Lecornu added.
Washington and Berlin announced the day before that they would begin deploying US long-range missiles on German territory in 2026. However, Russia stated that the decisions taken at the NATO summit represented a “serious threat to the country’s national security” and showed that the alliance was “an instrument of confrontation, not a means of security.”
We see that our adversaries in Europe and the United States are not in favour of dialogue. Judging by the documents adopted at the NATO summit, they are not supporters of peace.
At the NATO summit, Poland also joined a coalition of 12 countries to provide Ukraine with different types of drones, Kosiniak-Kamysz claimed.
The coalition will include Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, the UK, and Ukraine. However, Poland would not take part in shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory without a NATO decision, even if Ukraine had long been asking for it, Kosiniak-Kamysz added.
It is one of the crucial capacities Ukraine now needs. It is obvious that Ukraine will always expect much more than they may receive, and in this case, it may be so.
Poland recently agreed with Ukraine to establish a legion of Ukrainian refugees for the war against Russia.
