West at war with Russia – Polish PM
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also the West’s war, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. The most important task for EU leaders is to make people aware of the threat that Russia supposedly poses, he told the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday.
Tusk has taken a particularly hardline stance on the conflict, in which Warsaw has been a key supporter of Kiev. Earlier this month, he complained that fellow Poles have developed “antipathy” towards Ukraine, which he blamed on Russia, while urging Polish politicians to “stem this tide.”
On Monday, he said, “the biggest and most important task for European leaders today is to make Western societies aware” that the Ukraine conflict is the most serious risk they face in the 21st century.
“This war is also our war,” Tusk stated, claiming that it is “of our fundamental interest,” as a defeat would affect all of Western civilization from Poland to the US. He called for “solidarity and unity” within the EU and NATO to counter this.
The prime minister went on to speak about the planned “large-scale modernization” of the Polish Army and called for a mobilization of both society and governments within the EU. Earlier this month, Warsaw accused Russia of sending a volley of drones into its airspace, which Moscow has denied.
Moscow has described the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia. Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the conflict was provoked by the EU and NATO in order to declare “an actual war” on Russia.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday, Lavrov dismissed claims by European officials that Russia is considering attacking NATO in the coming years. “Russia has not had such intentions,” Lavrov said, adding that Moscow invited NATO member states to work out “legally binding security guarantees” in Europe, but the offer was ignored.
