Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today in Warsaw that Poland has no intention of sending its soldiers to Ukraine as part of a possible peacekeeping force, but will provide logistical and political support to countries that would do so.
"When it comes to helping Ukraine, I believe that the issue has been resolved: Poland will help Ukraine as it has done so far, organizationally, financially in accordance with its capabilities, humanitarianly and militarily," the Polish prime minister, who holds the presidency of the European Union until July 1, told reporters in Warsaw.
"We do not foresee sending Polish soldiers to the territory of Ukraine," he pointed out.
Tusk intends to warn the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, and their meeting host, French President Emmanuel Macron, at a gathering in Paris today that "times are brutal and there is no room for a choice between Europe and the US."
"There is no place for an either-or philosophy. Either Europe or the US. Based on the assessment of the potential, but also on the awareness that so far this cooperation has in fact been a guarantee of security for both Poland and the West, I will warn anyone who would like to play at competition between the Union and the US (not to do so). Because that makes no sense," said Tusk.
The Prime Minister emphasized that Poland, which allocates over four percent of its GDP annually for defense and has good relations with the United States, which calls it an exemplary ally, must have a "special, positive role."
"I will ask the prime ministers in Paris directly whether they are ready to make serious decisions," Tusk said, adding that today's mini-summit of major EU countries had been prepared for days, but that the debates at last week's Munich Security Conference had prompted politicians and commentators to speculate.
Donald Tusk said that "in harsh times there is no reason for allies to quarrel and not find common ground on the most important issues."
Poland refuses to send its soldiers to any possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine not only because it believes it needs them to defend NATO's eastern flank and the borders with Russia and Belarus, but also for historical reasons, as it does not want to give ammunition to Russian propaganda that Polish soldiers are occupiers and that official Warsaw wants to secede from Ukraine its western parts that belonged to it before World War II.
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