Tusk announced the decision to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte following an EU summit in Dublin, Polskie Radio reported. "At this stage we will not allocate additional funds to the PURL project, that is, European money for the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine," Tusk told TVP Info, in a quote carried by RBC-Ukraine.
He attributed the move to a budget deficit and to Warsaw's own defence expenditures, which he described as among the highest in Europe. "We have helped and continue to help Ukraine very seriously. But, given our financial capabilities, Poland will not invest additional funds," Tusk said.
The PURL programme (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List) was launched in July 2025 by Donald Trump and Mark Rutte after Washington refused to supply weapons to Kyiv free of charge. Under the mechanism, European countries and Canada finance deliveries of US products that are not made in Europe or that the United States can hand over faster than its partners.
According to Ukraine's Defence Ministry, the country received about 95% of all interceptor missiles for Patriot systems and up to 90% of missiles for other air-defence systems through the mechanism, as well as munitions for HIMARS, artillery shells and aerial bombs. In the programme's first year, 29 countries financed military supplies to Kyiv worth more than $6.7 billion, Ukraine's government reported in July.
Warsaw's total contribution to PURL amounted to $100 million, announced in November 2025 by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. In December those funds were folded into a joint $500 million aid package that Poland financed together with Germany and Norway.
Last week, Bloomberg sources reported that the inflow of contributions to the programme had slowed and that the shortfall in funds collected for already approved packages had reached about $2 billion. The United States, according to the agency, intended to call on NATO allies to allocate more money.
Separately, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said his country no longer supplies Ukraine with weapons and ammunition from Bulgarian army stockpiles. He linked the decision to an excessive deficit and problems with reserves, G4Media reported.
Tusk also said Poland would play a key role in the work of a European negotiating group on ending Russia's war against Ukraine. At the Dublin summit, EU leaders agreed that Europe would be represented at future talks by the EU institutions and the E5 countries - the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland and France. According to Tusk, European countries will not agree to changes in Europe's security architecture in Russia's favour.