Mariusz Błaszczak made the remark at an international donor conference for Ukraine in Denmark, Copenhagen, on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Hosted by the defence ministers of Denmark, Britain and Ukraine, the Copenhagen Conference for Northern European Defence Allies sought to coordinate security assistance to war-torn Ukraine, according to officials.
Błaszczak, who is also a deputy prime minister, told reporters in Copenhagen that he was “very pleased that another format has been created to coordinate support for Ukraine.”
‘Poland should keep reminding the West about Russia’s aggression’
The Polish defence minister warned of "the danger that the free world will tire of information about the war.”
He said: “Our task should be to keep alive the West’s interest in the fact that Russia is aggressive, that it is trying to rebuild its empire, and that such renewed imperial tendencies have always harmed Russia’s neighbours.”
“Today they are harming Ukraine, and if Ukraine is conquered by Russia, they will be harming Poland,” Błaszczak added.
He told reporters that reminding the West about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine “is the key to Ukraine’s freedom” and “the key to Poland’s freedom, too.”
Błaszczak said he had told the conference that “some countries declare much, but do little” for Ukraine, and stressed “the importance of an independent Ukraine for the free world,” the PAP news agency reported.
He added that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged countries to make good on their assistance pledges during his video address to the gathering in the Danish capital.
While in Copenhagen on Thursday, Błaszczak held talks with his British counterpart Ben Wallace and Ukraine’s Oleksii Reznikov, officials said.
In a statement issued ahead of the Copenhagen conference, Poland’s defence ministry said the event “complements the work of the US-led Ukraine Defence Contact Group.”
Poland remains one of the leading providers of humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine, the Polish defence ministry said in its statement.
It added that Warsaw had so far supplied Kyiv with USD 1.7 billion worth of military equipment.
Thursday was day 169 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, tvp.info