Poland suspends PURL contributions for U.S. arms to Ukraine

Poland will not contribute money to the PURL program for the time being. Through it, European countries buy American weapons for Ukraine. The Polish prime minister told the NATO secretary general, according to the Unian agency.

The decision concerns only the financing of U.S. weapons purchases, not all military aid to Ukraine. Poland joined PURL in late 2025 and put up $100 million (2.1 billion crowns) for American equipment for Kyiv.

MiG-29s in exchange for technology

At the same time, Warsaw said it is ready to hand Ukraine MiG-29 fighter jets. According to Polish Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk, Ukraine has agreed to provide counter-drone technology in exchange for two MiG-29s. The deal is now in final negotiations.

Contributions sparked a dispute in the Czech coalition

Czechia's participation in PURL in July 2026 caused tension in the governing coalition. The speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and SPD leader Tomio Okamura was firmly opposed. Government representatives, including SPD minister Jaromír Zůna, sought to calm things down, saying the step stays within previously agreed limits. Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO) called the dispute a “storm in a teacup.”

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said the contribution is small and one-off and will not be repeated. The money was redirected from other projects and came to 140 million crowns.

How much the program has raised

From PURL's launch in summer 2025 to July 2026, allies channeled $6.7 billion (148.3 billion crowns) into the initiative. That was enough for ten ready-made packages of American military equipment and weapons.

Most participants contribute hundreds of millions of dollars. The largest donor is Norway, with more than a billion dollars (22.1 billion crowns). Germany, the Netherlands and Canada each sent roughly $500 million (over 11 billion crowns) or more.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz