WARSAW—Poland added its voice on Thursday to calls to allow Ukraine to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russia as it hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Warsaw.
Kyiv has been pressing the Biden administration and other Western governments to authorize long-range strikes that it says will help to counter Russia’s relentless aerial attacks on Ukraine.
“We should continue to deliver advanced air defense systems [to Ukraine] … and lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told a joint news conference with Blinken.
Blinken, winding up a visit to Europe, said he had held extensive discussions with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Wednesday about how they see the war developing and what their needs are, but declined to say whether Washington was ready to approve such strikes.
“What we learned from our Ukrainian partners will inform discussions that we’ll be having with other allies and other partners in the days and weeks ahead, as we work through and think through the coming months,” Blinken said.
It was fitting to begin such discussions in Poland, Blinken said, citing its staunch support for Ukraine.
Russia has warned that any decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range Western missiles would deepen what it called the direct involvement of the U.S. and Europe in the war and would trigger a response from Moscow.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made defense a top priority for eastern members of the NATO alliance, and Poland has sought to strengthen the borders it shares with Belarus and Russia.
Relations between Poland and Russia have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Warsaw has ramped up defense spending in response and expects record defense spending in 2025 of 186.6 billion zlotys ($47.95 billion).
Blinken praised Poland for the increase, which he called the “gold standard” for members of the NATO alliance.
The top U.S. diplomat, who earlier this week also visited Britain, met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda as well as Sikorski on Thursday.