Andrzej Duda made the statement before departing for the Lithuanian capital on Monday evening, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The two-day summit of the transatlantic alliance runs from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to officials.
The president told a media briefing at the Warsaw Chopin airport: “The Vilnius summit will be the second highly important NATO summit amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, after the 2022 meeting in Madrid, Spain. It is our hope that decisions will be made on many issues at the Vilnius summit. This get-together will explore practically all the issues that matter for Polish security.”
‘NATO will discuss boosting eastern flank amid Russian threat’
Duda added: “We are developing a general boost to the eastern flank, in case it is seriously threatened in any way…. Army staffs in all NATO countries have specified which units could be deployed to the eastern flank in the event of any threat.”
The president stressed: “Obviously this threat is currently being defined by NATO in a clear and explicit manner as a threat from Russia, so in the event of such a threat, every NATO member is obliged to specify concrete units that would be deployed, adding up to 300,000 troops.“
“This issue will be discussed at the Vilnius summit,” he added.
Poland to call for expansion of NATO’s fuel pipelines to eastern flank
Duda also stated: “We’ll definitely be raising the issue of the expansion of the NATO fuel pipelines, which currently reach as far as Germany.”
The Polish president declared: “More than 20 years after joining NATO, Poland will be pressing the alliance to decide to finance the expansion of the fuel pipelines, so that they reach NATO’s eastern flank.”
He added that NATO’s pipelines “could then supply fuel for the military needs of the eastern flank, if it has to be defended.”
‘Poland wants NATO to give Ukraine a pathway to membership’
Duda also raised the issue of Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, the PAP news agency reported.
He told reporters: “Poland is a passionate advocate of Ukraine’s accession to NATO…. We want Ukraine to receive as many security assurances as possible, and above all to receive… a clear pathway to membership of NATO.”
The Polish president added that “Ukraine needs a clear signal in terms of processes that it is really beginning to get closer to NATO.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Monday is day 502 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, wprost.pl, 300polityka