Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk made the remark in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP on Friday.
International community will ‘never accept’ Russia’s 'pseudo-referenda'
Asked about the so-called referenda on joining Russia, held by Russian authorities in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Szynkowski vel Sęk said: “Nobody believes that these pseudo-referenda were organised in a reliable manner. That wasn’t their aim.”
He added: “The aim was political - to organise pseudo-referenda to try and somehow justify the incorporation of occupied territories into the Russian Federation.”
"The international community will never accept it,” Szynkowski vel Sęk stressed.
Putin set to announce annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday
The US-based Institute for the Study of War reported on Wednesday that Russian-backed officials “completed their falsified annexation ‘referenda’ on September 27 and implausibly claimed that each sham referendum received between 87 and 99% approval from Ukrainian residents."
Russian President Vladimir Putin was on Friday set to host a Kremlin ceremony annexing Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which amount to some 15 percent of Ukraine's total area.
West must support Ukraine ‘more and faster’
Szynkowski vel Sęk was asked about how the West should respond to Putin’s move.
He replied: “It should continue to do what we’ve been doing so far, only more and faster.”
Szynkowski vel Sęk added: “Poland is providing substantial military assistance, and humanitarian assistance as well, but military aid is of key importance today, so that Ukraine can not only repel Russian aggression, but also continue its counter-offensive and retake territories that had been captured by the Russians.”
‘Ukraine needs more weapons’
Szynkowski vel Sęk told the PAP news agency that Ukraine "needs more weapons, not only the fresh package announced by the United States, but also decisive support from European Union countries such as Germany and France.”
He said: “Our expectations regarding Germany’s aid to Ukraine are much higher than what we’ve seen so far, we would like everyone to be as involved as the US, Poland and the Baltic states."
Friday is day 219 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wpolityce.pl