President Andrzej Duda (PiS) revealed the spheres of Polish aid to Ukraine during the war, including the transfer of MiG-29 fighters. In an interview with Onet portal, he stated that Poland «wracz saved Ukraine to a large extent».
«I think we can say so boldly that we saved Ukraine to a large extent, due to the fact that we were the first to send dense equipment to Ukraine to defend ourselves» - said the President. He stressed that Poland was the first to decide to transfer dense military equipment.
Ukraine begged for MiG-i
Duda reported that Ukraine “literally begged” for MiG-29 fighters during his talks with president Volodymyr Zelenski. «Remember, Ukraine begged us for MiG-i. That's where it all started» - the president recalled.
Poland asked NATO allies for approval to donate aircraft, but met with an American blockade. «We received signals that it is impossible to send absolutely to Ukraine from the state of Natovian assault planes, jets or tanks,’ explained Duda.
Americans returned to Poland
The president described the paradoxical situation in which the Americans sent Ukrainians to Poland on the MiG issue. «The Ukrainians came to us with claims that they heard from Americans: ask Poles, let Poles give you MiG-i» - he reported.
As a result, it appeared that Poland did not want to hand over Ukrainian aircraft. Duda stressed that this was a frustrating situation for the Polish government.
Nawrocks and the Future of NATO
The president was asked about the position of President-elect Karol Nawrocki in relation to Ukraine's accession to NATO. Nawrocki declared that he would not support specified a solution.
«In the campaign, very frequently you will say a word or 2 more words than average to say" - Duda commented. He added that the run has its own dynamics and sharpness, and then the speeches frequently smooth out.
Ukraine is simply a regional matter
Duda stressed that Ukraine “is not a lonely island”, but a substance of the full region. «Ukraine is the situation of our region. Ukraine is Russia and Russia-Ukraine, Russia-We, Russia-rest of the world" - explained the President.
He expressed the belief that this was the way president Nawrocki would gotta look at the situation. Duda admitted that he himself had made «unreal demands to support Ukraine», aware of the difficulties in their implementation.
Status of candidate for Ukraine
The president recalled his actions of February 2022, just after Russian aggression against Ukraine. He then called the Central European leaders with a letter proposing candidate position for Ukraine.
«Everybody says: +unreal+. There are Western European politicians who respond aggressively to this, they get nervous" - mentioned Duda. However, 3 months later Ukraine actually received the position of candidate for the European Union.
(PAP) Note: This article was edited with Artificial Intelligence.
