Poland will spend more than 4% of its GDP on defence in the next financial year, President Andrzej Duda announced.

It is predicted that 137 billion zlotys (about 35 billion euros) will be spent on defence next year. This represents more than 4% of GDP, Duda said speaking at the major military equipment exhibition in Kielce.

There is no price that is not worth paying so that Poland is free, nationally sovereign, and independent and Poles live in security, the President added, according to the PAP news agency.

Poland, a member of NATO and the EU, decided to increase its defence budget after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It recently sounded the alarm about the danger posed to it by another neighboring country, Belarus, which it denounces for provocations mainly by the mercenaries of the Wagner organization currently based there.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Warsaw has signed many arms agreements, mainly with the US and South Korea. At the end of August, Washington approved a colossal contract for the sale of 96 Apache helicopters worth $12 billion.

Warsaw will also buy 32 F-35 fighter jets, 366 Abrams battle tanks, and Patriot anti-missile systems from the US. Further, it has agreed to buy about a thousand K2 battle tanks, 50 FA-50 fighter jets, 288 K239 multiple launch rocket systems from South Korea, and anti-aircraft missiles worth about 2.5 billion euros from the British subsidiary of the European company MBDA.

Yesterday, it was also announced that it will purchase from Norway four Norwegian anti-ship NSM missile systems, with a range of 185 km and a value of 1.4 billion euros, according to the announcement of the manufacturer Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. These missiles can be launched either from land or sea.

Also read: Poland | 114-million contract for 24 BAOBAB-K mine-laying systems – VIDEO