Brzezinski: Poland and U.S. share the same freedom and are united on Ukraine

TVN24's Piotr Marciniak spoke with U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski on Friday evening.

"I’m pleased to report, Piotr, that in last hour, Secretary Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, has authorized six billion dollars in assistance to Ukraine, including Patriot systems and other lethal support," the ambassador announced.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced new weapons purchases for Ukraine worth 6 billion dollars, adding this was the largest assistance package from the U.S. to date.

"So, help is on the way," Brzezinski underscored. "It’s moving quickly now. I’m so glad Congress passed this legislation to authorize (nearly - edit.) 62 billion dollars in assistance to Ukraine. And I’m so proud to work for President Joe Biden, who fought for this for the last several months, getting bipartisan support in the House (of Representatives – edit.) and bipartisan support in the Senate," he stressed.

"And I have to say, I salute Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, who in March went together to Washington to send a united signal to the U.S. Congress that this is important and existential for Poland,"

Asked whether Polish leaders' trip to the United States has had any impact on the Congress' decision, Brzezinski confirmed. "Those messages absolutely resonated," he assured.

"Poland is a special friend of America," the ambassador said. "Over 200 years Americans have sacrificed for Polish freedom, Poles have sacrificed for American freedom. Today, we share the same freedom and we are united on Ukraine."

Asked about NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangement, which has been a hot topic in Poland in recent days, the U.S. ambassador said he could not comment on the issue.

“What I can tell you is this, that there has been no evidence that Russia is actually planning to use or to deploy its nuclear weapons in the conflicts around here,” he said.

He added the U.S. were watching the situation "very carefully".

President Andrzej Duda recently reiterated his position that Poland would be ready to host U.S. nuclear weapons under the so-called nuclear sharing initiative, prompting Prime Minister Donald Tusk to say he would like a clarification from the president.

Asked about last week's private meeting between Andrzej Duda and Donald Trump, Brzezinski replied: "There’s a history in America of foreign leaders meeting with heads of state, meeting with leaders and candidates from both parties."

"That’s the tradition that we have and it’s on a normal course," he added.