One of Poland’s top conservative leader’s call on Tuesday for NATO to enter Ukraine in a “peacekeeping mission” was rejected by NATO allies such as Germany and the United States, but Poland’s prime minister has now added his voice in defense of the proposal.
Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party and deputy prime minister, made the proposal for such a NATO mission during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Despite warnings that NATO in Ukraine could spark a conflict with Russia and potentially even lead to World War III, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says that there is still ample reason to support such a move.
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“In situations in which women and children are dying, when civilians are being murdered, Ukraine has a right to invite NATO and other allied troops. Such a peace mission would make it so that there would be peace in some parts of the country’s [Ukraine] territory,” Morawiecki explained during interview for TVP, Polish public broadcaster.
He added that the idea had been consulted with Poland’s allies and will be presented at the upcoming NATO summit.
Morawiecki also urged French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Scholz to visit Kyiv and show their support for Ukraine.
“I call on President Macron, PM Johnson and Chancellor Scholz to visit Kyiv. Let them show support for Ukraine,” he urged and added that the initial responses of EU leaders to Kaczyński’s proposal had actually differed, with some voicing support.
Mateusz Morawiecki:
I call on President Macron, PM Johnson and Chancellor Scholz to visit Kyiv.
The Polish prime minister also expressed satisfaction with the additional sanctions being imposed on Russia but he warned that abandoning Russian resources was the key problem.
“Today, Brussels is speaking in Polish. I am bitterly satisfied with this or not at all. They are dependent on Putin in the West, yet we continue to pressure them to give up on those resources. An example of this is the Italian government’s plan to step away from Russian energy by 2025,” he said.
The Polish prime minister also stressed the work that municipalities, parishes, the Catholic Church, and ordinary Poles were doing to help Ukrainian refugees and thanked all of them.
He compared the current crisis to the migration crisis of 2015-2016 and admitted that the challenges ahead would be more difficult.
“Back then, around 1.5 million people entered the European Union. I can only say that I am happy that today the European Commission is working on an aid package. Nevertheless, if we had waited for this aid, then the refugees in Poland would’ve been abandoned. We do not wait — we are helping,” he declared.
