The dispute centres on reports that Poland secretly transferred PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles – advanced munitions used in US Patriot air-defence systems – to Ukraine earlier this year.
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as deputy prime minister, wrote on X that it was false to claim Nawrocki had been unaware of the transfers.
He said the matter had been discussed at Council of Ministers Security Committee meetings on 10 and 17 February and 24 March, each attended by a representative of the National Security Bureau (BBN), which advises the Polish president.
He added that the head of the Presidential Chancellery had also been briefed, and that NATO's Secretary General had personally discussed the issue with Nawrocki.
"In whose interest are you lying?" Kosiniak-Kamysz asked, addressing the president's aides.
The claim follows remarks he made a day earlier on the scale of Poland's support for Ukraine.
Kosiniak-Kamysz said total donations were worth roughly PLN 16.5 billion (EUR 3.8 billion), with almost PLN 15 billion (EUR 3.5 billion) given under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government and just over PLN 1.5 billion (EUR 360 million) since the current coalition took office.
Nawrocki hit back, saying he was astonished by the defence minister's comments.
"I talk to you, to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and to NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte about many things, in different settings, often without reaching any conclusions. I do not then claim we agreed on something."
"You made the decision – now face up to it like a man," the president wrote on X.
Nawrocki added he was ready to bring forward legislation to "take full responsibility for the equipment donation."
(ał)
Source: IAR