Russian aggressor must pay for Ukraine’s recovery - Duda
Polish President Andrzej Duda said this during a speech in the city of Wielun, the first to be bombed by the German Luftwaffe as World War 2 began, during the events marking the 85th anniversary of the beginning of WW2, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
In his address, Duda highlighted the fact that during the war, Poland suffered huge material and human losses from Germany, which were never compensated by Berlin. Polish experts assessed that the damage incurred as a result of German aggression amounts to over $1.5 trillion, he added. More than 70% of that amount is compensation for human losses, because WW2 took 5 million people’s lives. According to the president, the issue of compensation from Germany remains on the table – and unresolved. Duda emphasized that Germany had already apologized multiple times for the wrongs inflicted on Poland and, in a Christian sense, the Poles have forgiven the Germans.
"But, apart from that, there is also a sum of material damages. And regardless of whether we accept (the apology - ed.) and forgive, we deserve compensation for damage, for what’s been irrevocably destroyed," Duda emphasized.
He added that Poland had never received such compensation from Germany.
In his opinion, this case today gains an international dimension in the context of holding Russia accountable in the future for the losses inflicted on Ukraine.
"We would not like Ukraine to have to rebuild itself at its own expense, as Poland had been doing for 40 years. Ukraine will need support, but first of all they will demand compensation for the damage inflicted by the aggressor, and this is an absolute obligation for the latter, that is, Russia," Duda emphasized.
On September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe dropped 380 aerial bombs on the town of Wielun, almost completely wiping it off the face of the earth and killing up to 2,000 residents. It was the first bombardment of Poland by German troops at the outset of World War II, which lasted until May 8, 1945.
