Confederate press conference attended by Deputy Marshal Krzysztof Bosak and Grzegorz Płacz, 12 December 2024.
Krzysztof Bosak:
– Macron will hold unofficial talks on the entry of Western states troops into Ukraine. The Confederation wishes to present its point of view on this issue, which is clear and it comes down to the assessment that it is not in the interests of the Polish State, but it is besides not in the interests of European NATO allies to have Poland send its troops to Ukraine!
There are many reasons why we think this shouldn't happen. We believe that the Polish State should articulate its knowing of the state and global situation directly. We believe that it is besides crucial to inform the public about the incorrect arguments, about the incorrect viewpoint that would lead us into a military presence in Ukraine.
We are against this because, as a front, front, front, and any even think that front NATO, we have a border with Russia and Belarus, which is now very close to Russia connected. We on this border are in crisis. This is an intentional crisis. And the main task of the Armed Forces of the Republic, besides within NATO, is to avert this crisis at the moment, defend our own territory, not rise the hazard of armed confrontation of Polish armed forces, soldiers in Polish uniforms with an eagle on the hinge, on the coat of arms, only to defend our territory, supplement our military capabilities, our defence capabilities and supplement the reserves.
Right now. A large part of our armed forces is bound by the crisis on the border with Belarus.We have incomplete reserves.. As a consequence of arms transfers to Ukraine We have deep incomplete weapons.. At the moment, Poland is not full prepared to defend its territory against conventional attack. Poland is not even full prepared to defend itself against hybrid conflict, as evidenced by the extended usage of units drawn from the usual training cycle to safe the border due to the personnel crisis in civilian services, in peculiar the Border Guard.
Poland needs to focus as a NATO front state on complementing its own defence capabilities and ensuring the safety of the east NATO flank.
It is worth noting that even more east Baltic States do not have a akin hybrid conflict at their borders. This is simply a clear indication that Russia and Belarus have designated Poland as a country with which it has deliberately caused a border conflict that has lasted for more than 2 years. In this situation, it would be highly unwise to exposure Polish soldiers, Polish weapons in the territory of Ukraine, in a war-torn territory, as a possible mark for a Russian aggressor, allowing to attack outside NATO territory.
I will stress this again, sending Polish soldiers to Ukraine is not only detrimental to the Polish state, it is besides detrimental to the NATO alliance and to the European part of this alliance. due to the fact that according to the strategical calculation of Russian, the cost of attacking Polish soldiers could be lower than attacking another soldiers of Western countries, so it could be an incentive. We must avoid this encouragement.
We must remember about Lavrow's ultimatum, Putin's 2021 ultimatum., dividing NATO allies into 2 baskets: old and new. The ultimatum active fresh allies, who are to be otherwise armed, are to execute different exercises, to be differently deployed here. We should not make conditions to test the attitude of the remainder of the allies to possible aggression against Polish soldiers.
We think Poland carries the top burden in relation to its GDP of assistance to Ukrainian refugees, the biggest burden of logistical assistance in supplying Ukraine as defensive, civil, energetic as in any another dimension. If there is peace in Ukraine, what we want this peace to happen, of course on good conditions, then Poland will proceed to be a logistical corridor to support whether it is the reconstruction of Ukraine or the actions of the peacekeeping forces there.
The conditions at the minute are completely unknown neither peace nor the possible presence of peacekeepers or peacekeepers in Ukraine. We think The main burden of work for the situation in Ukraine is primarily the Americans, to a lesser degree the most crucial European Union and NATO countries specified as Germany, specified as France, specified as the United Kingdom, too. These countries should take on the burden of leadership as regards possible peacekeeping forces, which must be given a appropriate mandate to their presence in Ukraine and the appropriate conditions of peace must first be negotiated.
This peace will not be forced by force by Western allies, due to the fact that no 1 is willing to fight militarily for the integrity of the Ukrainian state, it is evident very clearly after 2 years of this war. Poland should not push fingers between doors, and sending Polish soldiers to Ukraine would be precisely that. We will be subjected to various kinds of blackmails about European solidarity, about NATO solidarity.
This must be clearly highlighted: The situation in Ukraine is not the subject of any treaties that constitute the European Union or the North Atlantic Alliance. It should besides be stressed that Poland not only does not have obligations towards Ukraine, but besides those obligations that we might think Ukraine should do towards us, are not carried out despite 2 years of very intensive assistance above Polish capabilities.
That's our assessment. That's not an unknown assessment. akin assessments are made by representatives of the expert community or representatives of the highest commanding staff of the Armed Forces, specified as erstwhile Deputy Chief of General Staff Leon Komornicki, but besides many others.
Many people inform that a possible invitation from president Macron to participate in specified peace forces could simply be a trap for the Polish state and for the Armed Forces of the Republic. We may be tempted to prosecute a quasi-imperial policy to which, I stress again, we are not prepared..
Their troops outside their own territory may expedition into a conflict situation those states that are ready to defend their own territory, have reserves, have armed forces equipped, have full control over all their borders and can send what they are dealing with. Poland currently, in terms of defence capabilities, does not dispose of anything.
On the contrary, We have an unequipped Navy., having a common sea with the Russians among another things, we have incomplete, during construction, anti-aircraft defense, we have unimplemented aircraft, we have unimplemented fresh tanks. We have ordered, undelivered fresh infantry combat cars. We have deficiencies in the equipment of individual soldiers. All this needs to be completed before we think about sending Polish forces on any abroad mission. It besides needs discretion, it needs caution.
We want Ukraine the best possible conditions for peace negotiated there to be beneficial to Europe, and to NATO, and to Ukraine. Will that happen? We'll see. This is simply a large game between global forces.
Poland should take care of its interests at the moment. For the last 2 years we have supported Ukraine to a very, very large degree as a Polish state, as a society and at the minute we request to focus on reducing risks. I would point out that a peculiar signal that we should not send Polish troops to Ukraine will be the absence of American peace soldiers in these troops. It would be a peculiar signal, and it would most likely be a communicative from the White House, especially after president Trump took over, who, as we know, preaches the politics of “Americana First” and not engaging in their affairs—and sees this war as not his cause, unlike the administration of president Biden.
So we besides gotta foretell what could happen in the second, third, 4th step. The sending of Polish soldiers to Ukraine may be the creation of surviving shields for Russians for various kinds of provocations, and the Americans may consider it – from their position – non-binding commitment of voluntary European allies, not linked to allied loyalty and the work of joint defence of these soldiers.
This is not a situation nevertheless beneficial for the Polish state. Poland, unlike Russia, has no economy turned into a war economy. He's not leading an imperial policy. She is not prepared to wage any war at her borders and does not want to wage any war at her borders. If so, we should not send Polish troops to Ukraine and we should not succumb to temptations that another European countries will now form, temptations and blackmails.
