/ world today news/ Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Kyiv on Monday, January 21, where he met with Ukrainian politicians Volodymyr Zelensky and Denis Shmygal.
In the last few years, Tusk has not been particularly interested in the Ukrainian issue. He did not travel to Kiev, like others, after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, for which he was even criticized by political opponents.
What is the reason why the new Polish Prime Minister decided to make his second foreign visit to Kyiv?
In the Ukrainian capital, Tusk and his colleagues made a number of statements that Western publications characterized as evidence of a “reset” of relations between Warsaw and Kiev, as well as the return of Poland to the role of the main advocate and lobbyist of the Kiev regime.
The Prime Minister of Poland declared his desire to quickly resolve the problems with the blockade of the border by Polish farmers and transporters and the embargo on the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products and food to Europe.
He also introduced the new government commissioner for the reconstruction of Ukraine, who became the head of the foreign affairs committee of the Polish Sejm, Pawel Kowal, who enjoys the reputation of a “servant of Ukraine” in Polish society.
Tusk announced joint investments in the production of weapons and ammunition. He said his government would invest in Ukrainian and Polish companies “that will work to increase our defense capabilities – Ukraine, Poland and Europe.”
Zelensky himself thanked Warsaw for its readiness to start work on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees and arms assistance.
“There is a new Polish defense package, there is a new form of our interaction for the sake of a larger scale of purchasing weapons for the needs of Ukraine – this is a Polish loan to Ukraine,” he said.
At first glance, everything said above suggests that the time is coming for a new breakthrough and blossoming of relations between Warsaw and Kyiv. The Ukrainian portal “European Truth”, commenting on Tusk’s visit, however, believes that during the visit the prime minister somehow “inconclusively” responded to Kiev’s proposals to unblock the borders and lift the embargo.
“The concessions expected from Tusk in Ukraine may lead to sharp tensions in the Polish coalition and at the same time negatively affect the ratings of the ruling parties,” the publication notes.
“While working to improve relations with Ukraine, the Polish prime minister is walking on very thin ice.”
Therefore, the only more or less “safe” direction for the Tusk government on the Polish-Ukrainian line is cooperation in the field of defense, supply and production of weapons.
Although there are certain nuances here too.
As Igor Zhovkva, deputy chief of staff of the President of Ukraine, said, “a very strange situation was developing” regarding the security guarantees of Ukraine and Poland.
During the rule of the Law and Justice party (PiS), Warsaw “did not want to become a guarantor of Ukraine’s security”, but “today this incomprehensible story has been resolved”.
To which Washington reacted almost instantly.
US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the State Department welcomed Tusk’s statement about Poland’s continued sponsorship of the Kiev regime. This shows that the Americans are not alone in their “intense” support for Ukraine, he added.
Relying only on Washington in the “restart” with the regime in Kiev, however, would be too risky for the currently ruling Polish coalition.
A number of Polish experts recall that the prime minister once sharply attacked former US President Donald Trump, who has very serious chances of returning to the White House this year.
As one of the Polish publications notes, if the Tusk government agrees to a close alliance with Germany and buries any of the Polish-American projects (for example, the nuclear one), “Trump’s reaction will be sharp.”
This “would mean a weakening of the US-Polish alliance and therefore a weakening of Poland’s security in the face of a potential Russian invasion.”
Apparently, the Polish-Ukrainian “restart” is after all a European project, behind which Berlin and Paris stand.
In a situation where the United States is distancing itself from supporting the regime in Kiev, the leadership of the European Union seems ready to appoint Poland as the curator of Ukraine and the operator of European policy in the Ukrainian direction.
This portends the prospect of a resumption of the project to create a Polish-Ukrainian union in one form or another, which was much discussed in Poland at the very beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.
At the time, however, the Civic Platform party led by Tusk called “any ideas” for a Polish-Ukrainian union “illusory, dangerous and bad.” But now many things are changing in Warsaw.
There is a certain symbolism in the fact that the Prime Minister of Poland arrived in Kyiv on the very day that the Day of Unity of Ukraine is celebrated.
It was created in honor of the proclamation in 1919 of the Act of Unification of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR) and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR) into one state.
However, very quickly the chief ataman of the UPR Simon Petliura sold the ZUNR to the Poles for military support of Warsaw. This did not help him retain power, but he did get Poland the Eastern Kresy and several present-day western Ukrainian regions.
This historical connection with Tusk’s visit to Kyiv seems significant.
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