Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave an interview to European media in which he warned that Europe has entered a "pre-war period" and that if Russia achieves victory over Ukraine, the entire continent will be in danger.
"I don't want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept that belongs to the past. It is very real, and it started two years ago," the Polish prime minister said.
Among other things, Tusk commented on the Russian authorities' claims that the Ukrainian authorities were allegedly involved in the attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall.
The Polish prime minister said that Putin's words about Ukraine's involvement showed his "clear desire to justify the increasingly brutal attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine". He recalled that this week, for the first time, Russia hit Kyiv with hypersonic missiles during the day.
In his first interview since returning to the post of Polish Prime Minister, Tusk called on European governments to do more to strengthen security.
According to him, regardless of who wins the US presidential election – Donald Trump or Joe Biden – Europe will become a more profitable partner for Washington if it relies more on itself in defence matters.
Europe should not rely entirely on the United States for security, Tusk said. He recently met with Joe Biden at the White House.
At the same time, the EU as a whole must be psychologically prepared to fight for its security, Tusk said.
He said that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had asked his EU counterparts to avoid using the word "war" in their summit statements so as not to frighten the people of Europe.
According to Tusk, he told Sanchez that in his part of Europe, war is no longer an abstract concept.
Commenting on the course of hostilities in Ukraine, he called for increased assistance to Kyiv and warned that the next two years of war would decide everything: "We are living in the most critical period since the end of World War II."
Tusk refused to answer a question about what would happen if Kyiv were to lose the war.
"We need to abandon the 'what if' mindset. Our main task should be to defend Ukraine from Russian invasion and preserve Ukraine as an independent and integral state. The future of Ukraine is in our hands – I'm not just talking about Poland, or even the EU, but the West as a whole," Tusk said.
"It depends on us whether Ukraine will manage to avoid pessimistic scenarios. Its situation today is much more difficult than a year ago, but at the same time much better than at the beginning of the war, when Putin's soldiers were standing in the suburbs of Kyiv," he added.
According to him, it is possible that European politicians will need to take a long-term view of the war in Ukraine, and this will mean, among other things, that Western countries will have to take on even more responsibilities towards Kyiv.
"It is in our interest to keep Ukraine in the best possible condition. Everyone in Poland knows this and it is not subject to discussion," he concluded.
Background. As reported, Macron, Scholz and Tusk agreed to buy weapons for Ukraine with the proceeds of Russia's frozen assets.