News Feed

Polish opposition leader calls for unwavering military aid to Ukraine

2 min read
Polish opposition leader calls for unwavering military aid to Ukraine
Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk speaks at a convention in Tarnow, Poland, ahead of the Oct. 15, 2023 parliamentary elections. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Polish opposition leader and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for unwavering military aid to Ukraine ahead of Poland’s Oct. 15 parliamentary elections, BILD reported on Sept. 27.

"The victory of Ukraine is in the national interests of Poland for sure," said Tusk. "This will affect both economic issues and the problem of refugees. The Polish state should not budge from its position, military support of Ukraine should not be questioned."

Poland's support came under question recently when Tusk's opponent, incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Sept. 20 that Poland needed to focus on strengthening its own military arsenal and would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine.

Later, officials clarified that Poland will meet all its existing agreements on arms deliveries.

Tusk represents the Civic Platform, a center-right political party.

Poland’s ruling party, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has also had tensions with the European Union over military support for Ukraine.

The suggested decreases in aid to Ukraine are a “quite dangerous” warning, one EU official told the Financial Times.

Daniel Hegedüs, a German Marshall Fund fellow told FT that while Poland’s upcoming election could result in a number of possible outcomes, most were negative.

“There could be an increasing core of central and eastern European and southern European illiberal, authoritarian governments. That will make the coordination of EU foreign policy actions even more difficult,” he said.

“So much hinges on what happens in Warsaw.”

Holding elections during full-scale war doesn’t make sense, experts say
When Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a fake vote to extend his mandate in March 2024, Ukraine will not be allowed to hold an election due to the martial law imposed amid Russia’s aggression. This won’t suddenly make Russia more democratic than Ukraine. If Russia had not invaded Ukraine, it
Article image
Avatar
Lance Luo

Lance Luo (Li P. Luo) is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. Previously, he worked at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Hromadske Television in Kyiv. He also spent three years in finance and strategy consulting. Mr. Luo graduated from the University of Southern California and serves as an arbitrator at FINRA.

Read more
News Feed
Video

The Kyiv Independent staff documented what it feels like to live and sleep in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia intensifies its drone and missile attacks on the city. Filmed over several weeks in June and July, our journalists take shelter in bathrooms, basements, and parking garages as explosions ring out overhead.

Show More