Visegrad Group Boosts Defence Ties Amid Poland-Ukraine Rift

Defence ministers of the Visegrád Group (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) met in Budapest on June 25 and agreed to deepen cooperation in military logistics and the defence industry. They will invite each other's forces to national exercises, pursue a joint position at the NATO summit in Ankara and work on north‑south logistical links, including fuel supply lines, to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin‑Szendi said, “I can tell you that the V4 defence ministerial cooperation has been revived,” adding that the ministers discussed threats from the east and south, illegal migration, the Russo‑Ukrainian war and post‑conflict security.

At the same time, the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, Poland, opened without President Volodymyr Zelensky after a diplomatic spat. Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle over a Ukrainian unit’s name referencing the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a WWII group linked to atrocities against Poles. The dispute has cast a shadow over the conference, which still hosted EU leaders, all four V4 prime ministers and officials from the UK and Germany. The rift highlights lingering historical tensions that intersect with current security cooperation in the region.