Why Poland has become NATO’s linchpin in the war in Ukraine

POLISH LEADERSNATOEUNATOMANPADSEU have long pushed their partners in and the to forge closer ties with Ukraine, warning of the risk of Russian aggression, only to be dismissed as paranoid. Russia’s murderous and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has proven them entirely right. Polish denunciations of Russia’s imperial ambitions, which Americans and western Europeans once pooh-poohed as post-communist stress disorder, have now become standard talking points. But it is not just Poland’s view of Russia that is being taken more seriously; it is Poland’s role in the world. In a matter of a few weeks, the country has become the linchpin of the Western effort to defend Ukraine and deter Russia, a task as important as it is dangerous.Hundreds of Stinger missiles, Javelin anti-tank weapons and other munitions have already poured into Ukraine through Poland and Romania, part of America’s $350m package to assist the besieged country. Poland itself has dispatched an ammunition convoy to Ukraine, and plans to send mortars, small drones and man-portable missile systems, known as , from its own supplies. Weapons deliveries from other countries, including a €450m ($490m) consignment financed by the , are on the way, too. “The biggest share of military equipment, both lethal and non-lethal, will go through Poland,” says Konrad Muzyka of Rochan Consulting, a military-analysis firm. “Like it or not,” says Stanislaw Koziej, a former brigadier-general in Poland’s army, “we are going to be the main link in the chain connecting Ukraine and the West.”