Leading Polish politicians, including former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, have weighed in on whether Polish troops will appear on Ukrainian soil after the conflict.
During an appearance on “Graffiti” on Dec. 31, Morawiecki said that he would let Poles decide if Polish forces should serve as peacekeepers in Ukraine following a ceasefire. In order to decide, the issue would likely be put to a referendum.
“If the Americans took part in such a mission [to guarantee peace in Ukraine – ed.], I would like the Poles to speak out on this issue. I would make it dependent on the Poles, on the Poles’ decision. Among other things, such a (referendum) option is also possible. I would make whether or not Polish troops are a part of such a mission dependent on this,” said Morawiecki in the “Graffiti” program.
As for the leading figures in the country’s political leadership, on Dec. 10, in an interview for Radio ZET, Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz promised that having Polish soldiers in Ukraine was out of the question.
Also, Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski announced that Warsaw was not considering sending troops to Ukraine, and Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski from the Left firmly opposed the idea of shooting down Russian missiles from Poland over Ukrainian territory, emphasizing that he did not consent to dragging Poland into the war.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the same thing during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Poland two days later, emphasizing that he wanted to put an end to speculation; however, the head of government also used the phrase “for now.”
In a short recording published in December, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Krzysztof Bosak collected several basic arguments for why Polish soldiers should not be included in a possible expedition to Ukraine.
