MORAG, Poland: Poland on Friday sealed a deal with South Korea to purchase $5.8 billion worth of tanks, howitzers and ammunition as Warsaw steps up its defense and deterrence capabilities in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, also the Eastern European country's defense chief, signed the contracts to confirm them and handed them to the head of South Korea's defense acquisition program administration, Eom Dong-hwan, at a military base in the northern Polish town of Morag.