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President Duda says Poland ready to host nuclear weapons

DPA WORLD
Published April 23,2024
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Poland is open to hosting nuclear weapons from NATO allies, President Andrzej Duda said on Monday.

Duda made the comments in an interview published Monday in the Polish tabloid Fakt.

"If there were a decision by our allies to deploy nuclear weapons within the nuclear sharing also on our territory in order to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready," Duda said.

However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for further details from Duda.

"This idea is absolutely massive, I would say, and very serious. I would need to know all the circumstances that have led the president to make this declaration," he told reporters.

"I would also like any potential initiatives to be, first of all, very well prepared by the people responsible for them and all of us to be absolutely positive that we want it," Tusk said.

Moscow deployed tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus last year amid tensions with NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, is considered an important ally of Kiev in the fight against the Russian invasion and offers shelter to many Ukrainians who have fled the conflict.

The country has been among the most enthusiastic advocates for supplying Ukraine with advanced Western weapons and has sent weapons along with numerous other European and NATO allies.