Shortly after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Polish President Andrzej Duda flew to New York, accompanied by Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg for the 77th UN General Assembly.
During his half-an-hour speech, the Polish head of state expressed his belief that Ukraine would eventually win the war against Russia. He underlined that “the decision to wage this horrible war was made in Russia by people prompted by an imperial sentiment.”
He further argued that far from being a regional conflict, the war opposing Russia and Ukraine is a “stoke of global fire”.
“As the international community, we are obliged to prevent anyone in the 21st century from […] causing artificial famine in the name of achieving their political goals, the way Stalin did in the 1930s” – Duda continued.
https://twitter.com/Journal_UN_ONU/status/1572362942238146560?s=20&t=KbdICibfSTpkrVy6x2a-tQ
The Polish President recalled the exceptional stance of the Polish people since the beginning of the war back in February.
“Despite the fact that 6 million Ukrainian refugees have come to our country […] and around 2 million are currently staying in Poland […] we did not have to build a single refugee camp. There was no such necessity. Nobody is living in à tent in Poland. Everybody has found dignified accommodation […] in homes, boarding houses and other temporary locations” – he reminded.
“Every Polish man and every Polish woman remembers what Russian occupation […] and terror means because Polish families have lived through that terror after WWII when the Russians occupied Poland and when Poland was behind the Iron Curtain” – he continued.
https://twitter.com/prezydentpl/status/1572360193908027393?s=20&t=1gbZ0TPOuWCrhh9fgKzvkg
The Polish leader went on by reminding an often forgotten fact, namely that the Soviet Union took part in the partition of Poland together with Nazi Germany.
“On the basis of the Hitler-Stalin pact of the 23 August 1939, Soviet Russia occupied 50% of my country and close to 2 million were deported to the far East – to the depths of Siberia. 22 thousand Polish officers and policemen were brutally murdered by the Soviets. They were brutally shot down in the back of the head in Katyń […] We know what Russian terror means, what Russian occupation means. That is why Poles went to help Ukrainian refugees without asking any questions” – he insisted.
Andrzej Duda appealed for an increase in the humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine, underlining that the current efforts are insufficient.
Image: Twitter @mmagierowski
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
