Whether they „enter or do not enter” Ukraine, the Russian action is barbaric. The Ukrainian press stresses how great the economic consequences of prolonged tension and uncertainty are.

The Ukrainian Government has just had to put half a billion dollars on aircraft insurance to secure the continuity of air services. Professionals and managers are leaving the country, foreign investment is being put on hold and capital is flowing away. On top of this, there is a fundamental uncertainty among citizens about tomorrow. Migration from the country is also on the increase.

What Russia is doing to its ‘brotherly’ Ukrainians is terror, cruel abuse.

It is a daily violation not only of international law, but also of the basic principles of human coexistence between nations.

Poland has an important and pressing lesson to learn from this. The aim of the hybrid attack on Poland’s border with Belarus was to create exactly such a zone of uncertainty. Attempts were made to establish some kind of extraterritorial camp, a nomadic settlement which would begin to grow, then fortified.

This was a potentially deadly moment.

The risk is still there. As Prime Minister Morawiecki said: Polish borders are sacred. As a country, we must not retreat even by a millimetre here, we must not succumb to the attacks of Lukashenko’s media and the media associated with the opposition, which often repeat their narrative.

If they only set foot somewhere, they usually set the whole house on fire a moment later. The Ukrainian one, as we need to constantly point out, is unfortunately de facto a joint project with Germany, because this is the geopolitical consequence of Nord Stream 1 and 2.

This is another important lesson for Poland.

Tłum.K.J