Source: United States Department of Defense
UNKNOWN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the press conference in the Ministry of National Defense. We have here Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Secretary of Defense of the United States, Mr. Pete Hegseth. Deputy Prime Minister, can you please take the floor?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ: Good morning. Good morning, everyone. It is a great moment. It is a great moment for myself, for my wife, together with whom we are hosting Secretary of Defense of the United States together with his wife. Welcome very cordially. Thank you for choosing Poland as the first venue of your first official bilateral visit, that you decided to come to Poland.
It is a testimony to our partnership. It is also a testimony to our friendship and shared strategy of security for the United States, for Poland, Europe and the whole world. That is our great duty. It is a great honor for myself to host Secretary Pete Hegseth to Poland today and talk about the most important challenges related to the security of Poland, the United States, Europe and the world.
Thank you very much for a very good discussion. Well, first, we had a [Inaudible] and then we had a bilateral meeting with delegations to talk about our alliance and the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. Polish American Alliance has never been as strong as it is today, and we can do everything possible to make it even stronger overnight.
And this is what we agreed on, that we will have a joint investment and shared security guarantees, as well as increasing capabilities. Poland is a country that understands threats, that it can see it, and we can sense it. We have our own history and we know how it happened, that in our country, in our beloved homeland, the war was waged. We were deprived of our own independence for years.
For years, we didn’t also have the self-determination capacity when we restored it. We know how important security is, how important freedom is and peace. The values that bring us together need strength. Freedom needs strength. The peace also needs strength. Security takes a lot of strength, and that strength is not possible without spendings, without the money that we have to spend on security, without increasing our capabilities and investment in our armed forces, the alliance and the society.
We know this perfectly well and this is something that we definitely share. Thank you very much for that. Poland is an example of such a such a country and Secretary of Defense gave an example of Poland in public in Brussels, that Poland is actually an example how to care for our own security and the allied security.
Because whatever we do, the protection of our borders, five percent of defense spending is modernization and transformation of the Polish armed forces, the acquisition of the state-of-the-art equipment from our strategic partner in the area of defense, which is the United States and this is an absolute priority for our country.
Everyone in Poland absolutely accepts that and agrees with that. We want to thank our taxpayers, thanks to whom we are able to execute that great plan of the transformation of the Polish Armed Forces. Without them, it would not be possible. We can do that, thanks to them, because they contribute to this and they understand this.
Poland is a country that understands that the greater defense spendings are definitely a must. Europe must spend more. This is the message with which Secretary of Defense came to the meeting of defense ministers of the alliance. Well, we must spend more to protect our territory better and the United States wants to cooperate.
And the United States will do everything possible to be together for the alliance to be stronger and stronger, but Europe also must demonstrate its contribution. We understand this perfectly well and we are true to our commitments. We are true to our allied obligations. We were together in Iraq. We were together in Afghanistan.
We were in different anti-terror missions. After the terrorist attacks in the United States, we were the first country that was ready to support the US and we continue to do so. We will support the United States. We are a steadfast and loyal ally and thank you very much for the presence of the American troops in Poland.
It is incredibly important for us. It is crucial and it gives us a sense of security and it really provides tangible security. We want to thank for every single American serviceman and servicewomen training together with Polish troops for giving us strengths and capabilities and our power. You are very much welcome here.
Come to us. This is your home, and you will always be treated like that because it is a great privilege for us and a great pleasure. I am also very happy with our conversation about the future, further spendings that we want to make in the United States, further acquisitions. We will definitely continue that effort.
We also want to develop the cooperation of our defense industries. We also talked about that investment joint venture, Polish American Investment to increase the capabilities for our production, especially the capacity to produce munitions and the capacity for armament, production that is not sufficient in Europe.
Europe must wake up. Europe must invest in defense industry and we want to create joint venture companies with the United States to be able to use these resources better. Poland can and should be a hub of infrastructure for maintenance, for economy and businesses of the United States. Our strategy is to be like a transatlantic bond, bringing the United States and Europe together because Poland is best prepared to do that and Poland understands best all the actions that are undertaken by the United States today.
And I think that Poland has very good awareness of the situation. After this conversation, I am absolutely convinced that it is the case. We want to be a service hub that will be used for the American equipment used by our allies along the eastern border of NATO. We also talked about illegal migration that we stop at the Polish Belarusian border.
We talked about the challenges the United States is also facing to this extent and very good information that I want to share with you. You know that there is the review of different spendings in the United States, that there are different executive orders that were issued by President Trump and the objective is to review the justification of the spendings.
But there is something as foreign military financing. This is the fund that is used to modernize, for example, the Polish armed forces and we use it, billions of dollars. And that executive order of President Trump about freezing the funding of different programs to support modernization and transformation, they do not apply to Poland.
Thank you very much, Secretary of Defense for the decisions about the that, for a very clear presentation of the case. It is a great example and we are ironclad partners. We are friends for better and for worse, for good times and worse times. We are together with each other, Poland and the United States.
The United States and Poland are true and loyal friends and our cooperation will be even at a higher level.
UNKNOWN: Thank you. Now, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense of the United States.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, thank you, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister. Thank you for your incredibly strong words, which I echo and concur completely. Our friendship, our bond is ironclad and we came here specifically to reinforce that. I also want to thank your wife for being a part of this as well today, and your entire delegation.
The warmth of the Polish people is very, very clear. It is a privilege to be here and I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here in Poland. The symbolism is not lost, in fact, it is intentional. We see Poland as the model ally on the continent, willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense and the defense of the continent.
Our relationship is strong and growing stronger every day. Poland, a strategic frontline partner on NATO’s eastern flank. Poland, a staunch US ally. Poland, a, as I said, model ally, not only in words. Words are cheap, but in deed and in actions. Poland leads by example, on a lot of things, including defense spending, building up Polish military readiness.
Yesterday in Brussels, we both talked a lot about spending and the need for hard power. Diplomacy is important. Talk is important. Negotiations are important. But ultimately, beans and bullets and tanks and helicopters and hard power still matters. Poland understands that and so do we. They’re exceeding NATO burden sharing commitments and we’re looking for even more ways to partner.
You mentioned joint ventures, strategic partnerships. We are open and look forward to further solidifying how we can work together as it pertains to our defense industrial bases. We want to achieve peace through strength together. Deterrence, that defense industrial base, that’s Apaches, F-35s, HIMARS, Patriots, you name it. The more you have, the stronger we are.
The more we can cooperate with those systems, the more interoperable our capabilities are, the better. I also want to thank you and the Polish people for the outstanding support of our forces that are deployed here. We have over 8,000 American troops in Poland. I had a chance to spend the morning with some of some of those US troops.
We ran the streets of Warsaw this morning in the snow. I’m from Minnesota, so I was used to it. It was about 25 to 30 US Soldiers and Marines, had a chance to talk to them while we ran and did push-ups. And I asked them about their experience here in Poland and some worked directly with troops, others worked in military sales.
Some work in POW and MIA remains recovery still. Each one of them had nothing but gushing compliments for the Polish people, for the Polish military, for the amount of support that they receive, for the true partnership, for the eagerness with which Polish troops work alongside American troops. We’ve seen plenty of examples across the globe as the United States of America, or where you work with allies who sometimes you wish wanted it just as much as we did.
That’s not a problem we have with Polish troops or here in Poland, and we thank you and we thank your military for the immense amount of support they provide to ours. We also, investments by Poland makes it easier for us to be here as well. Generous contributions from the Polish Treasury for infrastructure and logistics support for our troops to be here reduces the US taxpayer burden.
I know that’s something that President Trump worked with Poland on his first four years in office. We will continue to do that together as well. The level of partnership, just to underscore here, is unmatched in Europe. The common bond between our forces is unlike others in Europe. We have a shared warrior ethos, which we talked about, something I’m emphasizing, we’re emphasizing at Donald Trump’s Department of Defense.
We’re ready, we’re lethal, we’re capable and we want to reinvest the warrior spirit. We want to rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence. I heard the exact same things from you and from your leadership in our bilateral meeting, which is incredibly encouraging. No truer friend, no tougher foe than the Polish soldier.
As I mentioned, we saw it in Iraq, we saw it in Afghanistan and it goes all the way back to World War II and Market Garden. The Polish military has stood alongside America and we stand alongside you. So, thank you again for that robust partnership, for being a friend around the table of nations. Yes, at NATO, we are all friends, but sometimes you look out and see those that say we are with you when there are tough conversations to be had and you were, and I know you will be. We look forward to leading those conversations and ensuring our deeds match our words, and your friendship is incredibly valued.
On behalf of the American people, thank you for welcoming us. It’s an honor to be here, sir. Thank you.
UNKNOWN: Now we have time for four short questions. The first question, Jan Piotrowski, TVN 24.
Q: — Hegseth. Sir, just recently you’ve ruled out the possibility of restoring Ukrainian pre-2014 borders, but do you believe that there is a possibility to restore the border as it was before the full-scale invasion back in February 2022? Thank you.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Thank you for the question, sir. I think anything is possible. I, as the Secretary of Defense, have a specific lane of the portfolio of what America is representing inside these negotiations. So, my job today and in Brussels was to introduce realism to the conversation, the reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely.
The reality of US troops in Ukraine is unlikely. The reality of Ukraine membership in NATO as a part of a negotiated settlement, unlikely. And I stand by the comments that I made on that first day in the Ukraine contact group and that’s for all the press out there who it’s difficult for them to understand that.
We stand by the statements we made in reality about the status of US forces or Ukraine’s involvement in NATO and the unlikely nature of that. That said, I would never put constraints around what the president of the United States would be willing to negotiate with the sovereign leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.
I’m not here to put a left and right limit on those discussions. We’ve been here just simply to introduce realism into the expectations of our NATO allies to incentivize the opportunity for that negotiation. So, what those borders ultimately look like, sir, remains to be seen and I think is part of the discussion that would be had between our President, Zelenskyy, Putin and likely Europe’s involvement in those discussions as well.
Thank you, sir.
Q: Mr. Secretary, are US troops in Ukraine on the table? Vice President Vance says it is. And [untranslated], under what condition would Poland send forces to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission?
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, the president has said multiple times inside his framework for discussions of this, and I just want to lay out that these are not comments or statements that I make in a vacuum or make without direct consultation with our team. So, President Trump’s national security team, from Mike Waltz to the vice president to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we’re all on the same page.
And our job is to ensure that our commander in chief, the president of the United States, has the full spectrum of options to bring this conflict, to bring the killing to an end, to an end. And my message to the Ukraine contact group was I do not believe as a part of those negotiations that US troops will be on the ground.
You can say that and I believe that to be true. That’s what President Trump has said. That is what he has emphasized, that this is a for Europeans to resolve alongside Ukraine and Russia and that US boots will not be on the ground. Again, negotiations happen, the president has latitude and what happens in those negotiations is his prerogative because he is the American people’s representative on the world stage.
There’s no daylight in those conversations. There’s no daylight between myself and the vice president. We are collective advocates on behalf of the president. He reserves the right to have any option as he discusses troops and partnerships and investment opportunities and front-line limits. Those are all what President Trump will negotiate with his counterparts.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ: [Inaudible] just started. I would like to thank for this question. The negotiation, which President Trump chairs, is just the first step. We’ve talked about it. Well, some thought that this is the finale, that this is the end. Well, it was just launched and it is worthwhile not only in Poland, but also in Ukraine across the world to realize.
And what just was said by Pete Hegseth, what will be the finale, it is to be seen. It is in front of us. What is for sure, we need to be strong and united as allies and this is what we have between Poland and the United States. Poland has been doing a lot to support Ukraine. We’ve been doing that from the first day.
Without the Polish participation, we could not be able to send assistance to Ukraine. 95 percent of hardware humanitarian assistance goes through logistical hub in Poland, and this has been happening for three years. We’ve been securing this. We’ve involved our forces which are protecting this process. We would like to thank our allies from the US, other countries, that they are supporting this transfer process and protection process of the donations which have been transferred to Ukraine.
And this is the role for Poland, of the logistical support in many issues rather than sending our troops to Ukraine, what we can do for sure. And I think we’re going to do it together soon to send our companies, joint venture companies or joint venture partnerships to Ukraine. The companies investing in the defense industry also using various capabilities to elevate the level of security of Ukraine and the eastern flank of NATO developing these possibilities.
If we invest in Ukraine, the United States, Europe and Poland, this is a great guarantee of security. I think it is also in the strategy that the United States is presenting broadly and this is also going to be a subject of the discussion. So, our role as a logistical support that we’ve been doing, it is very important.
Without that, we could not support fighting Ukraine and the peace in Ukraine.
UNKNOWN: Thank you very much. Next question, there will be two more questions.
Q: Mr. Secretary, would the US consider lowering troops number in eastern Europe as a part of the deal with Russia, or would it consider giving up its permanent military presence in Poland?
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, I will state definitively as I did in Brussels, that America is committed to the NATO alliance. Our message has been – and as we discussed, we believe, heard loud and clear that member countries in NATO need to spend more, need to invest more, need to have more skin in the game for their collective defense.
That is not just a suggestion from the United States of America, that is a direct request, which we will follow up on as a reflection of their desire and commitment to actually defend their own backyard. That’s a serious aspect of NATO becoming a serious alliance in the future. As I mentioned, you can have as many flags as you want, but if you don’t have hard power, you’re not an actual alliance.
And unfortunately, our adversaries look at that and they judge accordingly. Right now, on the continent, the American presence is robust and it has been. And that partnership is real and important. And the troops that we have here in Poland is an investment in that, is a recognition of that. And frankly, the invitation we receive here, if anything, would make me want to welcome more troops to Poland, as the Secretary of Defense.
That’s not a policy statement. That’s just how I feel. The welcome is warm. At the same time, our president is in the middle of negotiations, but he has recognized, as have I, that American presence on the continent is important to deter Vladimir Putin and send that signal of solidarity. But I think it’s really important what the deputy prime minister said.
This is the beginning of negotiations. I’m not here to set the terms of how my president of the United States will debate this. I’m here to give him my best military advice alongside him of what may or may not be most useful to reach the peaceful end state that we want. From my perspective, the American troop levels on the continent are important.
What happens five or 10 or 15 years from now is part of a larger discussion that reflects the threat level, America’s posture, our needs around the globe, but most significantly, the capability of European countries to step up. And that’s why our message is so stark to our European allies, now is the time to invest because you can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever.
America has to stare down a lot of threats to include, as I mentioned, the Communist Chinese and if that’s the case, then countries like Poland and others will continue to step up. But as of today, we are very proud of our partnership in Europe. Thank you.
UNKNOWN: [Inaudible] Fox News [Inaudible].
Q: — Fox News. These questions are for both you gentlemen. Do you believe the warnings from NATO allies that allowing Putin to keep Ukrainian territory, will one day embolden him to launch future attacks, perhaps even invade the eastern flank of the NATO alliance? Is this Yalta 2.0 or perhaps even Munich 2.0? Do you trust Vladimir Putin to live up to any potential agreement?
And finally, in light of the Russian drone attack on Chernobyl last night, should there be a ceasefire during these negotiations? Thank you.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Do you want to go? Go ahead.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ: Well, what I believe is the strength which protects us from evil. On the strong, we are able to defend ourselves from Putin on the strength the terrorists in our freedom. Our freedom will not be protected by beautiful words, by diplomatic meetings. Our freedom and independence will be only defended and protected by the strength of our alliance.
This is the only thing that can protect us, nothing else. And we’ll never have a calm day. There are no calm days across the world. There are only those who have slept the last 30 days, years, because they thought that they lived in the calm world. The world will never be calm. The world will also always require from us activity.
We always need to invest that. We have to remember that Putin or other dictator may come, which can threaten our security. It never ends. This is what history teaches us. And I think it was a bit too good for us. For some, it was too good. Maybe they didn’t have the experiences that we’ve had in Poland, that they just slept over this time.
And right now, it’s time to wake them up and the voice which came from Brussels, from Pete Hegseth, and more spending was finally heard. We’ve been talking about, we’ve been showing that and we need it. Not to replace the American troops in Europe because without them the world and Europe will not be saved.
But to maintain them to keep them, Europe must show that they want it, not in the words but in the deeds and many European countries is already doing that, but many more needs to do it and we want to do it. So, there is no other security guarantee than your strength.
SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, I appreciate those words and I agree. First, your second question on a ceasefire, I think the president has stated that that could be part of a good faith aspect of the beginning of negotiations, which the president’s goal is to stop the killing and the violence and the death. Part of doing that could be a ceasefire, and that could be a welcome development.
As far as Vladimir Putin being emboldened, he’s going to declare victory no matter what. You can expect that no matter what the outcome is. Thankfully, the bravery of the Ukrainians and allies that came alongside them, especially early in the war, deterred and defeated Vladimir Putin from achieving what he wanted, which was all of Ukraine.
So, now you have a more defined front line and whether he declares victory or not will be up to him. Whether he’s emboldened speaks exactly to what the deputy prime minister talked about and NATO’s willingness to step up. If NATO’s response to this situation is to truly increase capabilities, truly increase inputs and spending to think more like Poland, to think more like the Baltics who are closer to the threat and recognize the reality of the threat, then I don’t think Vladimir Putin will be emboldened by this outcome.
It will be a recognition that the collective ability of the west to deter him was something that actually happened. Is there trust there? No. I mean, you don’t have to operate under a position of trust in order to negotiate a deal. But again, I’m the Secretary of Defense, it’s not my job to read the mind of Vladimir Putin.
President Trump will be the one at the table with Zelenskyy and Putin. You don’t have to trust somebody in order to negotiate with them. But as Ronald Reagan said, if you don’t trust, you need to verify and so there will be a follow up and ensuring that whatever peace is negotiated is a lasting and enduring peace.
UNKNOWN: Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, prime minister and secretary.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ: Thank you one more time.
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