Alarm in Poland: West is wealthier than Russia but lags in weapon production

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radoslav Sikorski, after a trip to Kyiv, in an interview with TVN24, said about the need to immediately increase the production of ammunition and weapons for Ukraine.

What Ukraine needs is equipment and ammunition. As the West, i.e. the European Union plus the United States, we are 20 times richer than Russia, but Russia has switched its industry to war mode and produces more equipment. And wars are not won by tactical battles, such as Bakhmut or now Avdiivka, but by production," he said.

The West is still unable to cope with this, Sikorski admitted.

He said that he would be talking to Industry Minister Marzena Czarnecka about what could be done to increase the production of equipment and ammunition. Sikorsky said that Ukraine has unique competencies in missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technologies, and suggested that Poland could become a platform for their production. "Now there is practically no such industrial cooperation with Poland, but it should be," the minister said.

He added that the problem is not so much money as production capacity, because "Europe has not only disarmed, Europe has also deindustrialized."

"And it needs to be compensated as soon as possible," said Sikorski.

"If Putin wins this war, all our problems or disputes will become microscopic compared to such a catastrophe," concluded the Polish minister.

On December 18, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced the need to increase weapons production to counter Russia.

According to Ukraine's partners, Russia currently produces 1.5 million "blunt projectiles" a year.