Sikorski said the war was still raging and that “full responsibility” lay with the aggressor, Russia.
He cited attacks on civilians and on residential buildings, schools, trains and hospitals as violations of the basic principles of international law.
“Putin does not want peace, only capitulation,” Sikorski said.
He said Ukraine was defending itself thanks to “the courage of its soldiers, the sacrifice of its citizens and the support of allies around the world – including Poland.”
“To all those who believe that helping Ukraine is unnecessary or unprofitable, I say clearly: you are making a mistake,” he said.
Sikorski invoked remarks from the 1990s by Jerzy Giedroyć, whom he described as a leading authority on Poland’s eastern policy: “We must at all costs maintain the independence of Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus, because it is in our vital interest,” and “If Russia absorbed Ukraine, we are cooked, taken by the throat.”
Sikorski said that if Ukraine were to lose, the Russian threat would grow. “Let us imagine what it would be like if Putin’s tanks stood in Medyka near Przemyśl,” he said, arguing that Poland would then have to spend far more on defending its own territory than it currently spends supporting Ukraine.
He said “a free Ukraine, part of the West, is an opportunity for us” — a chance to blunt Russian imperialism, strengthen collective defense, expand economic cooperation, develop joint defense-industry projects and involve Polish companies in reconstruction efforts.
Sikorski added that Poland “is already the second-largest supplier of goods to Ukraine by value,” citing “the sale of 54 Krab self-propelled howitzers for around PLN 3 billion,” (EUR 710 million) which he said “is the largest export contract in the history of the Polish Armaments Group.”
(jh)
Source: PAP