It’s a word that makes the world sit up and take notice: NATO peacekeeping mission! Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and head of the PiS party Jarosław Kaczyński said it on Tuesday at the meeting of the heads of government from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia with the President of Ukraine in Kyiv.
By Carl-Viktor Wachs and Julius Boehm
“I believe what is needed is a NATO peacekeeping mission or a broader international agreement, but a mission that operates in Ukraine and can defend itself,” he said at the brief press conference afterwards, stressing that this was “a call to stand up for yourself.” to take up this matter”.
Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki did not comment on Kaczynski’s demand, but was determined and combative on Twitter: “Europe must understand that it will never be the same if it loses Ukraine. Europe without Ukraine will no longer be Europe. Rather, it will be a symbol of failure, humiliation, and helplessness. And I want a strong and ambitious Europe.”
The crucial question: what does the NATO demand from Poland mean?
A possible “moral upswing for the Ukrainians,” says Prof. Joachim Krause, who has been director of the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel for 20 years, to BILD.
What Poland’s deputy means, according to Krause: “At the request of the Ukrainian government, troops from NATO or the EU are advancing into unoccupied parts of Ukraine in order to form a humanitarian corridor there that can also be defended against air attacks.”
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The expert calls such a direct intervention by NATO in Ukraine “realistic”.
And further: “Unlike the proposal for a no-fly zone, Western soldiers do not have to intervene directly in the fight against Russians. They only secure land that has not been conquered by Russia. And that would reduce the flow of refugees.”
► Consequence for the Russian soldiers: “Their already precarious situation would continue to worsen. It would cause the Russian troops to reorganize their forces and could take the military pressure off the Ukrainians,” Krause suspects.
Heads of state from the USA, France and Germany, on the other hand
BILD reporter Paul Ronzheimer, who has been in Ukraine for more than four weeks and has been reporting from there since the beginning of the war, considers Poland’s demands to be “unrealistic”.
Ronzheimer said on BILD Live: “Both US President Joe Biden, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have ruled out any kind of NATO intervention in the war – and those are the decisive votes. I don’t believe that has a chance.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) only confirmed on Tuesday that NATO would not intervene: “We will not set up any no-fly zones over Ukraine. That would mean a direct military confrontation with Russia, with Russian fighter jets. I agree with US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the other allies that there must be no military conflict between NATO and Russia.”
Nevertheless, the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy does not tire of pointing out every day that Putin’s war in Ukraine costs the lives of civilians every day!
On Wednesday afternoon (CET), Zelenskyj will give a video address to the US Congress. Expert Krause assumes that the Ukraine President will reiterate the call for direct help from NATO. President Biden will then make a statement on how the US intends to continue helping Ukraine.