Paweł Wroński, the press spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry, has told reporters that although Poland is not currently planning to send troops to Ukraine, he cannot rule out a future situation that may require a Polish military presence there.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, in interviews with El País, La Repubblica, and Gazeta Wyborcza published on Tuesday, stated, “We should not rule out any options. Let Putin guess what we will do.”
When asked about the minister’s comments, spokesman Paweł Wroński said that Minister Sikorski’s words were consistent with his previous statements that, “although there are no current plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine, it is impossible to rule out such a scenario in the future because the situation’s development is uncertain.”
German weekly Der Spiegel recently reported that Poland and the Baltic states are prepared to send troops to Ukraine if Russian forces breach Ukrainian frontlines. This stance, according to the report, partly reflects their frustration with the German government’s cautious approach to providing military aid to Ukraine.
However, on Tuesday, the Polish Ministry of Defense contradicted these reports by stating that Poland is not considering sending troops to Ukraine. The ministry also advised the media to be more circumspect regarding some unsubstantiated information appearing in the media. Just a day later, the Polish Foreign Ministry appears to be taking yet a different stance and is voicing the possibility that Poland could have “boots on the ground” in Ukraine.
Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron has also raised the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. Critics have warned that if NATO countries become more involved, the conflict, especially with troops in Ukraine, could dramatically escalate, potentially into a nuclear war.
