Defence minister: Poland is not planning to send troops to Ukraine

The minister added that the government's position on the matter had been already expressed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk

He noted that "the French initiative (French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine - edit.) has sparked a debate and surely that's a positive effect as one should never resign oneself to war for two reasons".

"Firstly, it's the civilizational reason. One must never resign oneself that right behind your border, right next to you, bombs are falling on your neighbors, on schools, children are being killed," he warned.

Secondly, in my opinion, it's not a proposal worth considering. It would have an adverse and dangerous impact. Ukraine's victory, supporting Ukraine in achieving victory, are the crucial issues.

The Polish defence minister also announced that on March 26 Poland and Germany would launch an "armored capabilities coalition" to support Ukraine.

"It is one of the most important coalitions created, our two countries are joint leaders of this project, other partners want to join in, including UK, Sweden, and Italy," Kosiniak-Kamysz said at a press conference in Helenów.

Kosiniak-Kamysz also stressed that the presence of 5,000 German troops and military staff stationed in Lithuania reinforces security of Poland and NATO's eastern flank.

"Poland and Germany are taking responsibility for rapid response forces in Europe. By July, our battle groups - 2,500 Polish soldiers, 2,500 German soldiers - will be ready for rapid response."

Boris Pistorius said that NATO is preparing for every threat it has to face in the coming years.

"Nobody really knows whether or when Russia will attack anybody in Europe, but what we really see is that it is able and willing to attack Ukraine and has been doing it now for more than two years," he added.

"So what we all have to learn together as allies in Europe is to be prepared for any threat, especially for a threat which comes from Putin's Russia in any given year," the German defence minister said.

He underscored the importance of good relations and cooperation between Germany and Poland. "It's of the utmost importance. We see Poland as an extremely important partner and friend," he stressed.

"Poland is our central partner in terms of security and defence policy in Central and Eastern Europe. In terms of both support for Ukraine and the armored coalition.

The Council of the European Union on Monday ratified an agreement to increase the EU's support forUkraine's armed forces by 5 billion euros ($5.44 billion) through a dedicated assistance fund.

"With the fund, we will continue to support Ukraine defend itself from Russia's war of aggression with whatever it takes and for as long as we need to," EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

The cash injection comes amid warnings that Kyiv's forces need more resources to be able to hold the line against a larger Russian army and as a $60 billion package for Ukraine is being held up by U.S. Congress.

The European Union said the money would fund training and both lethal and non-lethal military gear. It will also be used to refund member states for military supplies sent to Ukraine, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told reporters after the meeting.

"I'd like to thank everybody who has contributed to this," he said.

The 5 billion euro top-up approved on Monday means the fund's ceiling is now set at 17 billion euros for the 2021-2027 period, the council saidin the same statement.

Ambassadors of the EU's 27 member countries agreed to the additional funds last week.

The council also approved rules to make joint procurement of military supplies from EU and Norwegian defence contractors.