Poland calls for ‘full mobilisation of the West in support of Ukraine’
- Polish premier-designate Donald Tusk today urged for more support for Kyiv
- It comes as Zelensky landed in Washington DC to press Congress for funding
Polish premier-designate Donald Tusk today urged for more support for war-torn Ukraine and called for a stronger EU as he awaits a lawmakers’ vote on his proposed government.
His address to lawmakers made clear that his government would strive to restore Poland’s credibility in the EU and give it an important voice amid the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
‘Poland’s task, the new government’s task, but also the task of all of us, is to loudly and firmly demand the full determination from the entire Western community to help Ukraine in this war. I will do this from day one,’ he said.
‘I can no longer listen to some European politicians and those from other Western countries who say they are tired of the situation in Ukraine.
‘They say to President Zelensky’s face that they no longer have the strength, that they are exhausted.’
The veteran politician and former EU chief’s administration is expected to garner enough backing in parliament to bring to a close eight years of right-wing populist rule.
The Tusk cabinet could be sworn in Wednesday, allowing him to travel to Brussels for an EU summit on Thursday and Friday as the new prime minister.
‘We will call loud and clear for full mobilisation on the part of the free world, the West in support of Ukraine in this war. There is no alternative,’ Tusk added earlier today.
He also promised to resolve the month-long blockage at the Ukraine border by Polish hauliers, who are demanding the reintroduction of entry permits for their Ukrainian competitors.
Newly appointed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk presents his government’s programme and asks for a vote of confidence in Parliament in Warsaw, Poland December 12, 2023
‘We will call loud and clear for full mobilisation on the part of the free world, the West in support of Ukraine in this war. There is no alternative,’ he said
Ukrainian military soldiers fire from the MT-12 or 2A29 gun ‘Rapira’ – a Soviet smoothbore 100-mm anti-tank gun
A Ukrainian tank drives along the field on December 7, 2023 in Avdiivka, Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia have recently claimed gains in the Avdiivka, where Russia is continuing a long-running campaign to capture the city
Ukrainian soldiers work to improve the tracks on an APC close to the frontlines in Donetsk
A Ukrainian soldier takes a drag of a cigarette amid freezing temperatures near the frontline in Donetsk, December 7
The show of support for Ukraine appeared to be mutual as its President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately tweeted his ‘congratulations’ Monday after Tusk was tapped as premier.
Tusk’s call to action came as Zelensky arrived on Capitol Hill to press Congress for additional military help, as further US funding is uncertain due to a domestic political dispute.
Zelensky was set to move over to the White House this afternoon for one-on-one talks with President Joe Biden and a joint press conference.
The trip – coming as Ukraine’s main phone operator suffered what it said was a massive hacking attack – represents a desperate bid by Zelensky to keep Ukraine’s most important international backer from drifting away.
Republicans are increasingly lukewarm about the need to support Ukraine and are also treating Biden’s request for billions of dollars in new armaments as a bargaining chip for gains on immigration reform and US-Mexico border security – one of the most intractable issues in US politics.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pictured delivering a speech in Washington DC today
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) walks with US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (L) and US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R) before meeting with members of the US Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 12 December 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky smiles back at International Monetary Fund Director Kristalina Georgieva after they spoke to the press following talks at IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2023
In a speech Monday at the National Defense University in Washington, Zelensky said that politics should not ‘betray’ Ukraine’s soldiers and he echoed Biden’s frequent warning that the Ukrainian struggle against invasion has global implications.
‘When the free world hesitates, that’s when dictatorships celebrate and their most dangerous ambitions ripen,’ he said. ‘They see their dreams come true when they see delays.’
‘Putin must lose,’ he said.
But the Kremlin scoffed at the impact of US support, echoing the arguments made by some senior Republicans who say that continuing the flood of weaponry to Ukraine would be futile.
‘It is important for everyone to understand: the tens of billions of dollars pumped into Ukraine did not help it gain success on the battlefield,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
‘The tens of billions of dollars that Ukraine wants to be pumped with, are also headed for the same fiasco.’
In an interview with Russian state television on Sunday, Putin said that Ukraine was ‘running out’ of arms because its defence industry was not able to produce enough.
‘When there is no base of their own, no ideology of their own, no industry of their own, no money of their own, nothing of their own, then there is no future. And we have one.’
Russia also said it was pressing ahead on the ground, just as Ukraine’s freezing winter deepens.
Ukrainian soldiers walk through the destroyed city on December 7, 2023 in Avdiivka, Ukraine
Outgoing Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (front row C). Polish lawmakers will vote on the proposed new government of Donald Tusk, whose pro-EU administration is expected to garner enough support to put an end to eight years of right-wing populist rule
Jaroslaw Kaczynski (C), leader of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party, looks on as designated Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not in picture) gives a speech to present his programme to lawmakers at the Polish Parliament in Warsaw, Poland on December 12, 2023
The bombed-out city of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Ukrainian military repairs the track of a BMP-1 on December 7, 2023 in Avdiivka
Back in Poland, Tusk, who previously served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and was president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019, has promised to unblock billions of euros in EU aid that have been frozen because of long-standing tensions between Brussels and the outgoing government.
His confidence vote comes on the heels of the outgoing conservatives’ failure to form a government of their own for lack of viable coalition partners.
The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party won the most seats in October’s general election but failed to win a majority.
Still, PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki was given the first crack at forming a new government and his proposed cabinet failed to muster enough backing in parliament Monday.
While Tusk’s Civic Coalition came second in the ballot, it secured a majority by joining up with two smaller pro-EU opposition political groups, the Third Way and Left.
Describing the right-wing administration as years of ‘darkness’, Tusk said Monday that his government would work to ‘right all of the wrongs’.
His arch-nemesis, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, fired back by accusing Tusk of being a ‘German agent’ and rued ‘the end of democracy’.
Freedom hero and Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa – known for despising the PiS – said Monday he was ‘happy that Poland is back on the path of development’.
Expectations for the new government are running high but the populists will remain very influential and have appointed allies to key posts during their time in power.
PiS still has allies in the presidency, the central bank and the supreme court, as well as in several important judicial and financial state institutions.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the outgoing government, is due to step down ahead of a presidential election in 2025 but he could use blocking tactics between now and then, vetoing legislation.
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