The UK’s former Defence Minister Michael Fallon shared his views on the current geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe in an article published by The Telegraph.
Sir Fallon started by understanding that in the last months, Ukrainians have been able to figure out who their genuine friends are. In his opinion, there’s no doubt that Ukraine’s true friend in Poland. Why does he think so? Well, let’s quote his own words.
“It’s Poland that has taken the bulk of Ukrainian refugees; it’s the Polish economy that has taken among the biggest hits […], and it’s Poland that has unstintingly raided its own inventories to give Ukrainian troops the weapons that they desperately need to defend their homeland” – Fallon wrote.
For Britain’s former Minister of Defence, Moscow bears the responsibility for the death of two Polish citizens in the village of Przewodów, on the Polish side of the border with Ukraine. He argues that the Kremlin has been disregarding the laws of war for a long time, targeting civilians, power stations and water supplies. He described the Przewodów attack as an accident caused by the chaos of war.
Sir Michael Fallon insisted that contrary to several Western powers (mainly Germany and France), Poland has been warning about the Russian threat for a long time and is now giving more than it can afford in support of Ukraine.
“Ukraine is in Poland’s debt for its immediate and extraordinarily generous response. But the rest of us owe Poland too […] for its persistent prescience in warning us against the Russian threat.” – explained.
Fallon also mentioned his time in office as Defence Minister between 2014 and 2017 when “it was always Poland that […] pushed for a firmer Western response [against Russia]”.
Fallon further underlined that Poland is about to spend €8.4 billion (£7.3 billion) on helping Ukrainian refugees this year and received only €144 million from the EU. He also drew attention to the fact that substantial payments due to Poland under the EU budget and from the post-COVID recovery fund (€73 billion and €35 billion, respectively) remain withheld by the EU despite all of Warsaw’s efforts mentioned above.
Image: GOV.UK
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
