Volodymyr Zelensky accused Poland of finding more reasons not to help Ukraine on key issues, including refusing to shoot down Russian missiles or hand over MiG fighter jets to Kyiv. His choice of words, which hints at cowardice on Poland’s part, is likely to further inflame tensions between the two countries, which have been steadily growing apart.
The Ukrainian leader used words like “scared” while speaking about Poland and other NATO countries during a meeting with the heads of the territorial communities and oblasts of Zakarpattia. In addition, he singled out Poland, saying they “didn’t even dare” shoot down Russian missiles.
“NATO countries are afraid to make decisions on their own. We have good relations with Poland – Polish citizens support us. However, we have been constantly asking them to shoot down missiles heading towards Poland. We have gas storage facilities near Stryi, on which our lives depend, especially in winter. We asked for protection of these storage facilities because we do not have enough air defense systems,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Zelensky, the authorities in Warsaw expressed their readiness to shoot down Russian missiles provided they received support from NATO.
“I agreed with NATO Secretary General [Jens] Stoltenberg that Poland would receive a police mission, i.e., NATO aircraft. We really wanted to receive MiGs from Poland, but they couldn’t give them to us because they didn’t have enough of them. So, we agreed with NATO that they would provide us with a police mission. Did Poland give us aircraft after that? No. They found another reason,” he continued.
Zelensky stressed that by not delivering the planes to Kyiv, “the Poles did not even dare to shoot down the missiles themselves.”
Recently, relations between Kyiv and Warsaw have not been the best. Even an extremely pro-Ukrainian politician such as President Andrzej Duda has admitted this.
When asked whether Kyiv — after receiving everything it could from Poland in terms of military supplies — had stopped taking Poland into account, he replied that “in a sense it may look like that.”
“We gave what we could give and we gave it quickly, when it was needed and that is our great pride, only two years have passed since then. I have to say with regret that ‘life is brutal,'” said the president on Radio Zet.