Warsaw will “brutally” protect its economic interests while helping Kiev, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said
Poland intends to profit from future aid to Ukraine, including from post-conflict reconstruction, and will not “naively” help Kiev at its own expense while others make money, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Speaking at the European Forum for New Ideas (EFNI) on Tuesday, Tusk stressed that Poland would prioritize its domestic economy in commitments to Kiev.
“We will brutally guard our interests and Polish companies,” Tusk declared.
“We will help [Ukraine] – Poland is in solidarity, we are a symbol of solidarity – but never again in a naive way,” he said. “It won’t be the case that Poland will express solidarity while others profit, for example, on the reconstruction of Ukraine. We will be in solidarity and we will make money on it.”
Tusk cited a potential logistics hub in the south of the country, run by Polish companies as a point from which materials could be exported to Ukraine from the EU.
“This is a difficult time for the world, but the best possible time for Poland… In this increasingly ruthless competition of egoists on world markets and on front lines, Poland will not be a naive actor,” Tusk stated, pledging to act “ruthlessly when necessary.”
Poland has been among Ukraine’s main supporters since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, providing more than €5.1 billion ($5.7 billion) in aid, over 70% of which was military, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute. The country has also received a large number of Ukrainian refugees, although public attitudes have reportedly cooled amid the influx of arrivals.
Warsaw is also part of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of European countries pushing to maintain military support for Ukraine and proposing to send troops, purportedly in a post-conflict peacekeeping role. Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland was ready to become the “largest beneficiary” of Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Reconstructing Ukraine will cost some $500 billion over the next decade, according to the World Bank. Some EU members, including Poland, have advocated using frozen Russian sovereign assets to finance rebuilding efforts. Others, however, have warned that doing so without legal grounds could create a dangerous precedent and deter global investors.
READ MORE:
EU divided over Russian asset seizure – Kremlin
Moscow has condemned the freezing of its assets and warned that seizure would amount to “theft,” which would be followed by retaliatory measures targeting Western investments in Russia. Moscow has also repeatedly warned that Western aid will not alter the outcome of the conflict, only prolong it.
