"Collecting money", or how Ukraine is fighting to preserve peace in Poland

Exclusive. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called the words of Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Havkowski unacceptable, who accused the President of Ukraine of allegedly trying to drag Poland into a war with Russia. A Polish official said that "Zelensky wants Poland to shoot down missiles over Ukraine, that is, he wants Poland to enter the war, that is, he wants Poland to fight with Russia." According to Havkovsky, "Zelensky in these statements wants to drag Poland into a war with Russia."

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"Taking into account the numerous provocations, cyberattacks and violations of the sovereign airspace of Poland and other European states by Russian missiles and drones, speaking about Ukraine's alleged desire to drag Poland or other countries into the war seems at least unacceptable. The facts testify to the opposite: Ukraine's resistance prevents the expansion of the war and potential military threats to Poland," among other things, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that in the conditions of ongoing Russian aggression, it is important to preserve and strengthen solidarity between Ukraine and Poland. This is precisely the policy of the Ukrainian government, which expects that Poland shares this goal. And they reminded that Russia is waging a war not only against Ukraine, but also against the European security architecture, an important part of which is Poland. Including for this reason, overcoming Russian aggression against Ukraine is a vital interest of Poland.

In January 2022, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Ryabkov, who arrived at the Russian-American negotiations on security guarantees, said that NATO should "collect money" and go to the borders of 1997. In 1999, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined the alliance, in 2004 - Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia, in 2009 - Albania and Croatia, in 2017 - Montenegro, and in 2020 - North Macedonia . In other words, Russia needed to bring back under its control not only the post-Soviet republics, but also the countries that were members of the Warsaw Pact Organization in 1991.

"Even a non-specialist understands that concessions are being demanded from Russia in a situation where it is NATO that has been striving for the last ten years to, as they say, "push out" our country and transfer it, if not to the role of a subordinate, then in any case to secondary roles in the European and international politics, and to do it with direct damage to our security, will no longer work. It's all in the past. And it didn't work out very well before, but now it's just ended," Ryabkov said. After the demands of the bewildered Putin, including the return of Poland under the control of the Russian Federation, were rejected at the Russian-American negotiations on security guarantees, he carried out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to force it.

Meanwhile, the idea of ​​intercepting missiles over Ukraine may be discussed at the next NATO meeting. "This is a matter of agreements and discussions within the group of our allies. We have a new NATO Secretary General. The next ministerial meeting of NATO countries will take place next week. Perhaps this issue will be on the agenda of the negotiations," said the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Radoslav Sykorsky. Sikorsky previously called the right of NATO members to shoot down Russian missiles a "constitutional obligation" of countries bordering Ukraine. "Membership in NATO does not cancel the responsibility of each country to protect its airspace," he said.

Earlier, in July, Warsaw and Kyiv signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of security, which provided for the development of a mechanism to intercept Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted that he would like help with the interception of missiles at least over the western part of the country, but admitted that Poland is hesitating, fearing "to be alone with such a decision."

In particular, the new US missile defense base in Poland, which will open in the coming weeks, will be able to shoot down Russian missiles. "During the negotiations, I managed to ensure that this base could also shoot down Russian missiles flying toward Poland, and not only Iranian missiles flying toward the United States," Sikorsky said.

Ukraine is counting on the continuation of active cooperation to bring victory over the common original enemy and the restoration of a comprehensive, just and stable peace.

By the way, the narrative that Ukraine is allegedly trying to draw NATO into a conflict with the Russian Federation is one of the favorite Russian propaganda. However, this is a completely different story.

Vera Perovskaya