Poland warns Trump against ‘historic mistake’ in Russia talks
A senior Polish official has warned US President Donald Trump that any peace deal recognizing Russia’s control over former Ukrainian territories would spell a disaster for the security of European NATO members.
In an interview with Financial Times on Sunday, Pawel Kowal, an adviser to Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Ukraine and the head of Poland’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said that while “provisional solutions” to halt the fighting might be acceptable, the fulfillment of “Russian expectations to recognize Crimea, Donbas or other parts of Ukraine… would be a historical mistake.”
Crimea overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in 2014 in a public referendum following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson Regions followed suit in 2022.
According to Kowal, should Trump recognize those territories as part of Russia, it would cross a “red line” for Warsaw and its neighbors.
The official argued that doing so would encourage Moscow to embrace further expansionism. “It would be horrible,” Kowal said. Russian officials have repeatedly dismissed speculation of having plans to attack NATO as “nonsense.”
Kowal criticized Trump’s approach to the Ukraine talks, which excludes European leaders from the process. “It’s very difficult to discuss security in Ukraine in isolation from the general security issue of Central Europe,” he said.
Despite his concerns, Kowal expressed hope that Trump would ultimately avoid recognizing Russia’s territorial gains. He also expressed the view that the US leader would avoid depriving American companies of an opportunity to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction effort by withholding security guarantees for Kiev – something both Ukraine and European NATO nations have insisted on.
Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has been engaged in talks with Russia to end the Ukraine conflict. Both sides have described the engagement as productive, and US officials have hinted at a possible ceasefire in the foreseeable future. In early March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also suggested that Ukraine would have to acknowledge some of Russia’s territorial gains to end the conflict.
Meanwhile, Russia has signaled that it is open to talks to resolve the crisis, but has ruled out territorial concessions. Moscow has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its desire to join NATO.
