Donald Tusk warns Poland that Europe needs to prepare for impending war

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Europe was entering a “pre-war” era, warned that the continent was not ready and urged European countries to step up defense investment.

In an interview with a group of European newspapers reported by the BBC, Tusk said: “I don’t mean to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept of the past. It’s true, it started more than two years ago.”

Tusk’s comments came days after Russian missiles briefly violated Polish airspace during a major attack on Ukraine, prompting Warsaw to step up military preparedness. Ukrainian officials said large-scale missile and drone strikes by Russia targeted energy infrastructure.

Amid concerns about the future of U.S. aid and concerns about defense industrial capacity, Mr. Tusk is using his platform to inject a sense of urgency into European discussions about Ukraine’s defense and aid.

“True solidarity with Ukraine? Less words, more bullets,” he said. I have written on social media earlier this month.

somewhere else postto Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. “How many more discussions do we need to make a decision?” he wrote.

Poland’s prime minister said that regardless of the outcome of this year’s U.S. presidential election, Europe would become a more attractive partner to the United States if it became more self-sufficient militarily.

The next two years of war will decide everything, he said. “We are living in the most critical period since the end of World War II,” he said, calling for urgent aid for Kiev.

The biggest concern, Tusk said, was that “literally any scenario is possible.” “I know this is shocking, especially for people of the younger generation, but we have to mentally get used to the arrival of a new era. It’s pre-war,” he said.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Kiev for the attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall without any evidence, and that “there is clearly a need to justify increasingly violent attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine.” I feel that,” he added.

Tusk, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and returned to the post in December, is a veteran politician who has served as president of the European Council and leader of the centre-right European People’s Party. He has sought to improve Warsaw’s status in the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.

In a recent social media post, he said: I have written: “The post-war era is over. We are living in a new era, the pre-war era. This is why NATO and European-American solidarity are more important than ever.”

In his comments this week, Tusk emphasized the importance of cooperation between Poland, Germany and France, known as the Weimar Triangle. He has sought to resolve differences between Warsaw and Kiev, which have been tense in recent months over Ukrainian food imports.

“Even close friends can sometimes have conflicting interests and views,” the Polish leader said at a press conference alongside his Ukrainian counterpart this week. The talks “ended with an even deeper conviction that no power in the world, neither Ukraine nor Poland, can undermine the friendship between our two countries,” he said.