Andrzej Duda made the remark in an interview with America’s The Washington Post newspaper, published on Thursday.
The Polish president said: “Vladimir Putin seeks to revive the Russian empire and must be stopped now, so that American soldiers don’t need to sacrifice their lives in Europe to restore peace and freedom in the world, which was the case in World War I and II,” as quoted by Polish state news agency PAP.
Asked if Ukraine had enough weapons to change the balance of the war against Russia, Duda replied that Ukrainian forces “need more assistance” to “get the upper hand.”
Such additional military support is required if Ukraine is to conduct “a very decisive counteroffensive against the Russian military,” the Polish president said.
Asked if he believed Putin could follow through on his threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Duda said: “No, I think that Russia will not resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. That’s not only because Vladimir Putin won’t use them. I believe that the nuclear arsenal in Russia is under collective control of many people — and that it is not just up to the sole discretion of just Vladimir Putin. So it takes more than one person to decide.”
Referring to NATO’s summit in Vilnius last month and Ukraine’s future in the Western security alliance, the Polish president told The Washington Post that he would urge the US administration to ensure that Kyiv is formally invited to NATO at the 2024 summit in Washington.
Duda warned that Russian leaders sought to rule not just Ukraine, but the world and stressed that they “can’t be allowed to do that” and to “redraw borders in Europe by force,” as quoted by the PAP news agency.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 533 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, The Washington Post