• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Poland will hold back on planned multibillion-euro NATO pledges for Ukraine, citing the need to protect the EU's eastern border.
• NATO allies are planning to pledge military aid worth billions of euros for Ukraine, with a commitment to support Ukraine with €70 billion per year over a two-year period for military equipment, support, and training.
• The strained relations between Ukraine and Poland over historical conflicts are threatening to spill over into other areas of cooperation, as discussed by the foreign ministers of both countries in Warsaw.

Poland will hold back on planned multibillion-euro NATO pledges for Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced in Warsaw on Friday, days ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey.

In principle, Tusk backed aid for Kiev, saying that "Ukraine needs financial support."

"But Poland must protect the EU's eastern border," he added. Because of the particular strain on Poland in protecting the EU's and NATO's external borders against Belarus and Russia, Warsaw has also secured exemptions from the EU asylum pact.

Relations between Ukraine and Warsaw are currently strained over questions surrounding their history during previous conflicts. This rift is threatening to spill over into other areas of cooperation.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha spoke about the current state of relations on Friday in Warsaw.

The minister from Kiev did not comment to the press after the meeting, Polish TV channel TVN reported.

Sources told dpa on Friday that NATO allies plan to pledge military aid worth billions of euros for Ukraine during the summit in Ankara.

Ambassadors of the alliance's 32 member states backed the measure at a meeting on Friday in Brussels, dpa has learned.

Under the plans, allies commit to supporting Ukraine with €70 billion ($80.1 billion) per year over a two-year period - totalling €140 billion - for military equipment, support and training.

The funding, however, is to include an EU loan to support Ukraine's Armed Forces worth €60 billion for the years 2026 and 2027. This leaves around €40 billion NATO allies would have to cover from their national budgets per year.

NATO leaders are expected to approve the assistance formally in Ankara on Wednesday.

Tusk said he had conveyed the government's position to President Karol Nawrocki, who will represent Poland at the meeting taking place on July 7 and 8.