On 85th anniversary of World War 2, Poland’s leaders speak of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine

In their addresses, the Polish leaders drew parallels with today's aggression Russia is waging against Ukraine and the need for Poland and Europe to stand strong and united in light of the threat Russia poses, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Sejm Speaker Szymon Holownia, and members of government, parliament, and president's office took part in events on the Westerplatte Peninsula in Gdańsk, which was attacked by German troops at 04:45, thus unleashing World War Two 85 years ago.

Reading out a letter from President Andrzej Duda, the head of the National Security Bureau of Poland, Jacek Siewera, emphasized that Poles understand the cost of independence through the lens of Ukraine, which has been repelling Russian aggression for more than 900 days already.

"Supporting our neighbors and opposing the evil of imperialism, which is also attacking Europe today, we must make every effort to protect our borders from numerous provocations and the ongoing hybrid war," Duda emphasized in the letter.

Szymon Holownia emphasized that the lesson of the Second World War is that "bad people act when good people stand silent."

"Today we are once again convinced that although this should not have happened, there are those in our neighborhood, very close to us, who are capable of attacking a neighbor one morning, as happened 2.5 years ago at a very similar time in Kyiv, and who want to seize their land, kill their children, and annihilate them because something got twisted in someone's mind," Holownia stressed.

He added that, to counter the aggressor, firm realism and standing united are necessary.

The head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, emphasized that the most important lesson from World War 2 is the need for full commitment to defense, "readiness to organize the entire Western world, Europe, and NATO to protect against aggression, which we are witnessing today on the Ukrainian battlefields."

World War 2 began on September 1, 1939, with the German attack on Poland, and ended with the signing of Berlin's capitulation on May 8, 1945.

Photo: Zuzana Bönisch