Poland’s ambassador says Warsaw will enter into conflict in Ukraine if Kyiv is defeated

Poland will enter the conflict in Ukraine if Kyiv fails to defend its sovereignty. This statement was made by the Polish Ambassador to France, Jan Emeric Rostiszewski, in an interview with the LCI TV channel. The comment was posted on Twitter.

“If Ukraine cannot defend its independence, we will have no choice, we will be forced to enter into a conflict,” he said.

Later, the Polish Embassy in France clarified that the words of the Polish diplomat were misinterpreted out of context. The embassy noted that in the rest of the interview, Rostishevsky emphasizes that Poland is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine, but is providing assistance to Kyiv.

“Carefully listening to the entire conversation makes it clear that there was no statement about the direct participation of Poland in the conflict, but only a warning about the consequences of the defeat of Ukraine: about the possibility of Russia attacking or drawing other countries of Central Europe into the war – [стран] the Baltic States and Poland,” the diplomatic mission said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Poland is a member of NATO. Earlier, the alliance has repeatedly noted that they do not seek conflict with Russia, but only provide assistance to Ukraine to protect the sovereignty of the country. At the same time, at the end of January, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer declaredthat NATO is ready for a direct confrontation with Russia if Moscow crosses the “red line” by invading one of the countries of the alliance.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of military equipment and weapons to Kyiv by Western countries. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov saidthat the West is waging against Russia not a hybrid war, but already “almost real”.