Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued a stark warning on Thursday, urging against harboring any “illusions” about US President Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine.
The comment came in response to Trump’s recent shift in rhetoric, who said on Tuesday that Ukraine “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
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Trump’s message of support for a Ukrainian victory was celebrated by European leaders and Ukraine advocates, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was surprised by the abrupt U-turn.
Tusk wrote on X: “President Trump stated that Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, could reclaim its entire territory.”
“Behind this surprising optimism lies a promise of reduced U.S. involvement and a shift of responsibility for ending the war to Europe,” Tusk continued, concluding: “Better truth than illusions.”
Meanwhile, giving his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Poland’s nationalist leader Karol Nawrocki endorsed remarks made by Trump in his scorching 56-minute speech also delivered on Tuesday, saying that he “agrees with Donald Trump.”
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not only the most serious conflict in Europe since World War Two, but also a turning point,” Nawrocki said, adding that “the existing international order is crumbling before our eyes.”
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not a purely regional conflict; it is a test of whether the principles upon which the UN is founded will stand the test of time,” he continued.
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Tusk’s warning was one of several voiced by European leaders on Thursday as they confronted mounting challenges in the wake of repeated airspace violations attributed to Russia.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking at a press conference with state governors, called for “effective deterrence” by NATO in relation to incursions on alliance airspace, saying: “We will not allow these attacks to continue.”
After the alliance told Russia on Tuesday that it would employ “all necessary military and non-military tools” to defend itself, Merz said that he thought NATO’s position on the matter was “absolutely right.”
It came as Ukraine’s national legislature took up a draft bill to deploy Ukrainian combat units to Poland after Warsaw called for assistance in air defense against Russia.
Meanwhile, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spoke out over the growing threat posed by Russian space activities at a conference in Berlin.
“Russia and China have expanded their capacities for warfare in space rapidly over the past years: They can disrupt satellite operations, blind satellites, manipulate or kinetically destroy them,” Pistorius said in quotes cited by Reuters.
Pistorius also claimed that two Russian satellites are shadowing German satellites utilized by the latter country’s armed forces.
“Russia’s behavior, especially in space, poses a fundamental threat to us all. It is a threat we can no longer ignore,” he added.
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