Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenskyurged NATO from Warsaw to give one more step in the defense of his country against Russia, one day after the officialization of the addition of Finlandand with the closed support of Poland to kyiv’s aspirations of join the alliance. “We approach together a great victory. We share the spirit of freedom and our great history,” said Zelenski, on stage at the Warsaw Castle Square, presided over by two huge flags, that of Ukraine and that of Poland. “Russia will not win this war. Our common enemy will pay for his war crimes for the rest of his life & rdquor ;, he added, addressing the president Vladimir Putin.
“There is no time to lose. We supply tanks, planes and howitzers to Ukraine. We set an example for others and we break their resistance to sending them weapons,” recalled the Polish president, Andrzej Dudabefore a crowd and among a huge security device.
If last year’s Madrid summit marked the way for Finland’s rapid entry, next July’s in Vilnius, in Lithuania, should be so for the Ukraine, Duda had previously stated, in an appearance before the media and after a meeting with Zelenski. Poland has already transferred to Ukraine eight fighters of the kind MiG-29 and is willing to supply him with his entire fleet, “if our allies approve,” continued the Polish president, who received Zelenski with honors that Warsaw only offers to leaders of the maximum level –that is, the United States–.
The entire Polish fleet means about 30 units of that fighter plane. The purpose of Warsaw is to supply these devices, which are Soviet-made and which the Ukrainians are trained to fly, to receive In return modern American fighters. It would be an exchange that would enable Zelenski to dispose of these fighters. short term and that it would not imply a direct intervention of NATO pilots in the war against Russia, something that Washington wants to avoid at all costs, the same as Germany.
The first step to be taken in Vilnius, according to Duda, must be to recognize Ukraine “security guarantees complementary, to reinforce its military potential and protect its population & rdquor ;. It would be a “preliminary step & rdquor ;, he added on the way to his integration into the Alliance.
the strongest ally
These were the words that Zelensky wanted to hear from his staunchest ally both in the bloc of the European Union (EU) and NATO or at least the one with the greatest weight among those who press for Ukrainian membership. The three Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – share this view, but their position is not comparable to that of Poland.
Zelensky’s visit, the first official one after several technical stops On other trips, he had this political outburst, which was followed by the most emotional act in the Plaza del Castillo. There the Ukrainian president spoke to the crowd, in the midst of even greater security measures than those deployed for the US president, Joe Biden. It was a demonstration of unity and support, in the presence of Ukrainians who had come to Poland fleeing the war of Russian aggression.
Poland is the country of the community bloc that has received the most refugees since the start of the Russian invasion, in February 2020. The Polish border guard has since counted more than 10 million entries of people from Ukraine, of which 1.5 million They stayed in Poland. The rest went to other member states – with Germany in the lead, with almost a million Ukrainians sheltered in its territory – or returned to their country.
The reception of the Poles was and continues to be supportive, which perhaps could not be taken for granted in a country that has rejected one after another the proposals from Brussels for a redistribution more or less equitable of refugees arrived in previous humanitarian crises. The difference is not only cultural or even religious: the ultranationalist Polish government is against accepting asylum seekers from countries dominated by Muslims.
Millions of Ukrainians
In Poland I already lived close to a million citizens of Ukrainian origin before the outbreak of the war, which has facilitated their integration. To this is added that, by community decision, they should not go through the llengthy asylum application processLike those arriving from other parts of the world, they have access to social benefits and subsidies, as well as a work permit.
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Despite this, the spirit of solidarity with which the Ukrainians were welcomed in the first months of the war gradually decreased, as did Warsaw’s willingness to give them access to the same subsidies that a Pole would receive. Ukrainian grain exports, cheaper than Polish, has caused fiery protests of Poland’s farmers, something Zelensky and the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki they promised in their meeting to resolve.
It has not changed, however, the military and logistic support from Warsaw to kyiv. Morawiecki’s government, like President Duda, put pressure on the one in Berlin as no other partner of the EU until Germany gave the green light to send tanks leopard2 -of German manufacture- to kyiv. Also has been the first to deliver to Ukraine the fighters MiG-29while other European allies, such as Germany, continue to consider a Red line the delivery of combat planes to the attacked country.