How Poland is leading efforts to again Ukraine

Well the war has entered a new stage in recent weeks as dozens of tanks were pledged by European allies to Aid in Ukraine's defense with some already on their way leading the charge in that effort is Poland which in late January stressed that even if other countries did not want to send tanks Poland would joining us now polish chief of Defense.

General Ray and Jay Chuck and it is really good to have you on board Poland has stepped up immediately with no debate in so many ways tell us about your visit here and your message to America and other partnering nations in the in Aid of Ukraine oh very good morning Ukraine is absolutely extremely.

Important for Poland it's extremely important for region with global implications some very first day we started our support in many domains starting from a human approach absorbing eight Millions ukrainians crossing the border a few million still staying in Poland then we started uh you know social.

Programs medical programs education for them and immediately we started preparation sending equipment ammunition in anything they need for for uh for victory for victory General um since the War Began Poland the center of gravity of NATO and of the EU seems to have moved East and to to Poland basically I mean Poland has been is an.

Increa increasingly incredibly important Country Now how is that going down in Poland how are polls reacting uh to their new central place status in Europe well it's you can feel and every single single day that the center of gravity from a historical Cold War time design moved from Germany to Poland to Warsaw and uh Joe strategy matters and also.

Geography matters and our aspirations of the western civilization as well so um nothing happened without the Poland we investing heavily in the security from the very beginning three percent GDP and we have entire list of very important uh modernization programs most of the the high-tech equipment comes from from U.S fifth generation airplane uh the high.

Mercer is very famous you see you know Effectiveness M1 tanks as well uh the most modern combat platforms and variety of different programs um and we're gonna do more but the first is just to win uh to win Ukraine because Ukraine matters Ukraine as uh its basic platform for security uh 100 years ago the Machu pic he said.

Free Ukraine free Polar it's direct connection direct relations and that's after 100 years still probably so General we're about two weeks away from the one-year anniversary of Russia's Invasion obviously has not gone the way Vladimir Putin thought it would go but I'm curious for your assessment as someone who studies and understands war.

And specifically this war where things stand and where you think they're going into the second year uh very difficult question because the mostly this goes to the politics to economy so we we need a Ukraine winning and the political domain in the economical domain they need money you need the resources you need uh effective sanctions and of course one of.

The conditions will be in the military operation which is which is critical but situation is still very dangerous very important dramatic from a moral point of view but it's definitely uh decisive what we do today equals to Eternity if we not do because as well so now or never yeah Elizabeth.

Seems willing to accept massive massive Russian casualties um we think back to the second world war particularly how long is this is this indefinite for him is he willing to stretch this out for it's a very important years uh I give you a very much polish flavor perspective we live in the space one.

Thousand years ago so we know the Russians that's the way they find him this is no surprise for us the standards uh for Russian army for for Russian Society is completely different than the Western Matrix so do not compare Russians using Western standards well you see uh behaving performance uh you know how how much the suffering and.

Still are ready to go is absolutely different than the Western Society so please do not you know assess Russians in it it's not our standards because they're completely different let's talk about well first of all I just want to talk what like Gene said about it's remarkable that Poland now finds itself where West Germany was from.

1945 to 1989. you guys are on on the front lines of freedom and as such I thought it was fascinating a couple weeks ago you pushed the Germans to move with tanks the Germans then pushed the Americans saying we'll do it but you all have to do it as well and so Poland was a real leader there I'm curious what difference do you think that's going to.

Make over the next year and what else do the ukrainians need that they don't have right now sir um from the very beginning our you know uh will willingness and equipment was absolutely critical so I got a very clear message from my political Masters so it's on as much as we can and as much as they need so there was no thousands hundreds.

Hundreds of equipment is going to Ukraine and of course from the many uh operational reasons or military reasons Ukraine needs to change to the Western platforms because ammunition because much better so Poland from the very beginning started to promote uh idea to build the multinational component and we offering a platform for training for.

Integration for the new tanks so that was the reason uh because we are Frontline and we would like to motivate and Inspire anybody so they we just offer a platform but waiting for some additional you know uh supplies well one other quick question we always talk about weapons but let's talk about training 2014 was a.

Disastrous military campaign for the ukrainians after that they started training with NATO started trading with polls they started training with Americans talk about the difference of how the ukrainians are now fighting and and we have ncos that go out can make decisions on the move the difference between having a bottom up.

Approach in Warfare and the Russian top-down approach how big of a difference is that training made over the past year it was absolutely huge difference and I think one of the critical factors that Ukraine Army so effective is a changing philosophy of leadership so Mission command given Authority very much now which is much.

More Western oriented the Russians they're going you know still in the in a very vertical you know decision making process waiting for permission and it doesn't work so that kind of change in investing in the NCO core as well is absolutely crucial so the human factor matters well the story of Poland really being a central player on the world.

Stage is happening right now and Poland really stepped up your father would have been proud he would be so proud taking in millions of people and stepping up in the fight with 100 percent it resolved I would say I'm proud to be a Polish American really really incredible story a Polish chief of Defense General Ray.

And Jay Chuck thank you very much for being here about okay coming up thank you

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