NATO members Poland, Slovakia to increase defense spending

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland will significantly raise defense spending to at least 3% of its annual economic output next year and Slovakia is also investing heavily in its armed forces, the two NATO members’ prime ministers say. They attended a multi-nation military exercise in Poland and said their Central European countries are building up their deterrence power and military cooperation amid the war in neighboring Ukraine. Almost 2,000 Polish, Slovakian, Czech, Hungarian, U.S. and British troops took part in the PUMA-22 exercise. It was held at a firing range in Nowa Deba, in south-eastern Poland, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the border with Ukraine.