Muhamad Yehia.. Cairo
In a wide-ranging speech to the lower house of the Polish parliament, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski crticised Russia’s “fantasies of dominance”.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday launched a scathing rebuke of Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, asking: “Don’t you have enough land?”
In an annual address to the lower house of the Polish parliament, Sikorski described the challenging situation Poland faces with the war across the border and the threat of the conflict expanding, and expressed concerns about the “disintegration” of Western unity.
Warsaw is one of Kyiv’s main supporters, and Sikorski used his speech to strongly criticise Russia and its leaders.
“Don’t you have enough land? Eleven time zones and still not enough? Take care of better governing what is within your borders according to international law,” he said.
“Anxiety, and the question of what will happen, have settled in Polish homes. Are we also at risk of Russian aggression? Are the relations between Europe and the US heading towards a crisis? Can Europe quickly improve its defence capabilities?” Sirkorski added.
Poland and European allies are trying to bolster their defences amid fears that Russian aggression won’t be limited to Ukraine and remarks from the Trump administration signalling that Europe cannot continue to rely on the US for its security.
Poland spends a higher percentage of its GDP on defence than any other NATO member, including the US. It plans for hit 4.7% this year, and is aiming to reach 5% in 2026
While he did not refer to US President Donald Trump by name, Sikorski’s speech appeared to implicitly criticise concessions Trump has been willing to make to Russia in a bid to end the war, which is now in its fourth year.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has falsely claimed that Kyiv “should have never started the war”, said that Ukraine “may be Russian some day,” and questioned the legitimacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government, among other comments
Trump also scrapped the long-held US stance of isolating Russia over its war by starting direct talks with Moscow and voicing positions that seem similar to those of the Kremlin.
Sikorski said that the greatest threat for Poland would be “the disintegration of the Western community”. He also warned Russia over its “fantasies of dominance”
“You will never rule here ever again — not in Kyiv, not in Vilnius, not in Riga, not in Tallinn, not in Chișinău,” Sikorski said. “Russian imperialism is our enemy. That is our policy towards Putin these days — and we will have no other.”