Tusk: Europe is the target of Russia’s aggression; we must be militarily stronger

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk believes that Europe is a target of Russian aggression from a strategic perspective, so the EU must be stronger than Russia militarily to protect its borders.

Tusk said this at a press conference following a government meeting, as reported by PAP.

“No one can doubt that, from a strategic perspective, Europe is the target of Russian aggression, and it will happen when Russia’s superiority is evident in terms of military capabilities.”

Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister

The Polish prime minister announced the establishment of a security committee under the government to enhance the security of Poland’s borders, particularly airspace, and reinforce the eastern flank with the participation of allies.

“We have already prepared with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski, such an initiative, an appeal to take into account the needs of the European arms industry for the fastest possible support of Ukraine, not only because already almost the entire Russian economy has switched to a system of war armaments and Europe is falling far behind.”

Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister

The Polish Prime Minister suggests mobilizing all available diplomatic means and persuasion to make the entire EU realize that without significantly increasing efforts in the field of armaments, they will fall far behind.

“This will mean one thing: Europe will be vulnerable to a direct Russian attack in the next few years. No one can doubt that, from a strategic perspective, Europe is the target of Russian aggression, and this will happen when Russia’s superiority is obvious in terms of military capabilities,” Tusk stated.

Therefore, according to him, “the absolute need of the moment in connection with the situation in Ukraine is that Europe as a whole must be stronger militarily than Russia, and this is the only way to protect European and Polish borders.”

At the same time, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for a decisive response to Russia’s massive missile strike on Ukraine on January 2, including tougher anti-Russian sanctions and providing Kyiv with long-range missiles to destroy Russian launch sites and command centers.

“We should respond to the latest assault on Ukraine in a language that Putin understands: tightening sanctions so that he cannot produce new weapons from smuggled components and giving Kyiv long-range missiles to take out its launchers and command centers.”

Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister

Russian troops fired 500 missiles and drone strikes against Ukraine over five days. These were the heaviest attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war, which started almost two years ago.

The Ukrainian air defenses shot down most of the Russian missiles, thanks to the deployment of Western advanced air defense systems. However, some missiles hit civilian infrastructure and residential buildings, killing at least five people and leaving around 100 wounded.