Speaking ahead of a summit between the European Union and the African Union in Brussels, Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki said: “We cannot allow Russia’s neo-imperial appetites to shape politics and determine the sovereignty of states."
He added that sovereignty and freedom “are fundamental European values” and must be protected.
“The awareness of risk is high among European leaders,” the Polish prime minister said.
He told reporters: “If support for Ukraine is to be meaningful, it must comprise a financial package as well as various commodities and goods, including support in the form of weapons.”
Morawiecki also raised the issue of sanctions against Russia, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
“We are discussing here a set of significant sanctions. In the event of an escalation, we are trying to ensure that these sanctions are imposed simultaneously with the United Kingdom, the United States and other allies,” Morawiecki said.
“A package of powerful sanctions is the appropriate response to what is currently happening around Ukraine,” he added.
'Threat of invasion very high:' Biden
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the danger of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "very high," the Reuters news agency reported.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House, Biden warned there was “every indication that they are prepared to go into Ukraine.”
The US president added there were no plans for him to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.
US President Joe Biden speaks to the media about Russia's buildup on the Ukrainian border, in Washington on Thursday. Photo: EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
'Firmness and unity of NATO:' Polish defence minister
Also on Thursday, Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said that all NATO members were in favour of strengthening the alliance’s eastern flank amid the Russian military buildup around Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters after a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Błaszczak stressed that “the alliance is united,” PAP reported.
The Polish defence minister added: “It’s important for us to contain the growth of the Russian sphere of influence so that our neighbouring countries can independently choose which alliances to join.”
“The firmness and unity of NATO is the only method of containing the Kremlin’s aggressive policy,” Błaszczak told reporters.
His words came after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced a day earlier that the alliance was considering moving new battalion groups to its eastern flank amid the Russian threat to Ukraine.
Poland's Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak (right) and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left) shake hands during a meeting at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. Photo: EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ
‘Russia is looking for pretext to attack’: NATO chief
At his news conference on Thursday, the NATO chief said: “We are concerned that Russia is trying to stage a pretext for an armed attack against Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg added: “Russia has amassed the biggest force we have seen in Europe for decades, in and around Ukraine. And we also know that there are many Russian intelligence officers operating in Ukraine. They are present in Donbass, and we have seen attempts to stage a pretext, the false flag operations, to provide an excuse for invading Ukraine.”
He stressed that “NATO allies continue their strong diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the serious crisis triggered by Russia’s military build-up in and around Ukraine.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Photo: EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Russia 'preparing to launch attack' in coming days: Blinken
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday made a last-minute change to his travel plans to speak at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine amid rising tensions over the Russian build-up, Reuters reported.
Blinken told the Council that Russia planned to create a pretext for an invasion in the coming days.
"This could be a violent event that Russia will bring on Ukraine, or an outrageous accusation that Russia will level against the Ukrainian government," Blinken said.
"It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia, the invented discovery of a mass grave, a staged drone strike against civilians, or a fake - even a real - attack using chemical weapons. Russia may describe this event as ethnic cleansing, or a genocide," he added.
Blinken disputed Russia's claims that it was reducing its troop presence near Ukraine.
"Russia says it's drawing down those forces," he said. "We do not see that happening on the ground. Our information indicates clearly that these forces, including ground troops, aircraft, ships, are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days."
'Russia moving toward imminent invasion:' US UN envoy
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, was earlier quoted as saying that "the evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion." She added: "This is a crucial moment."
Also on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned: “The United States has seen Russia stocking up on blood supplies, inching troops closer to Ukraine's borders and flying in more combat aircraft."
“I was a soldier myself not that long ago. I know firsthand that you don't do these sorts of things for no reason," the retired Army general said, adding: "And you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home."
Earlier on Thursday, Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces accused each other of firing shells across the ceasefire line in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv saying there appeared to have been a "provocation," Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Russia's parliament made a bid this week to recognize the separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which broke away in 2014, proclaiming independence, which sparked the conflict.
The standoff over Ukraine
Russia has been massing troops and military hardware around Ukraine for weeks, fueling concerns among Western leaders that an invasion could be imminent.
Moscow has denied any such plans, but has demanded security guarantees from the United States and NATO. These include a ban on the alliance’s eastern expansion and a withdrawal of infrastructure from NATO’s eastern flank, Poland's PAP news agency has reported.
A senior US administration official said on Wednesday that the United States did not believe Russia's claim to be withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border and suspected Moscow had increased its presence by about 7,000 troops, the Reuters news agency reported.
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and then fomented a separatist conflict in that country's eastern Donbas region, leading to a wave of EU and US sanctions against Moscow and Russian officials.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, nato.int