BRUSSELS -- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he is trying to “put some urgency” into providing ammunition and defense systems to avoid a “too little, too late” scenario as Ukraine fights off Russa’s full-scale invasion.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers meeting on January 22, Sikorski said that, when he reflects on warnings he issued when he was Poland’s foreign minister in 2014 about the danger of Russian intentions in Ukraine, Europe wasn’t prepared to do anything about it.
“We might still be just like 10 years ago in the logic of too little, too late,” he said, stressing that Ukraine urgently needs ammunition and ways to protect its cities and infrastructure.
“Ukraine needs to be helped to recover its territory, and we need to find ways to do it on time,” he said. “Because time is of the essence.”
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Sikorski declined to speculate on how much time the EU has at its disposal in order to prepare for a possible attack from Russia’s side, but said that when Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens other countries like he threatened Ukraine, “I’m afraid that he’s credible. And therefore, we have to make preparations."
The minister, who returned to the foreign minister post in December when Poland swore in a new government, spoke about the challenges of providing military support particularly from the EU. Production capacity is not rising rapidly enough, he said, acknowledging that governments in the bloc should have written long-term contracts with manufacturers 18 months ago.
“It simply takes time to build new production lines,” he said. “I’m told that stuff is coming on line, but not fast enough.”
Sikorski spoke on the same day that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose office said Poland is planning a new defense package for Ukraine that represents “a new form of cooperation aimed at larger-scale arms purchases for Ukrainian needs.”
Sikorski didn't provide details about the defense package but said it wasn’t the only thing to come out of the meeting. Poland also said it would join the Group of Seven’s security guarantees offered in July and extend a military loan to Ukraine for purchases in Poland.
There also will be regular government-to-government consultations between Warsaw and Kyiv.
“We have the best possible relations with the Ukrainian government,” Sikorski said but added that Polish farmers and truckers who recently blockaded Polish-Ukrainian border crossings have a "real issue" over the increase in trade and transportation across the border.
Sikorski said he has regular contact with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and noted that Poland has put forth some solutions. The goal is to find “creative solutions to level the playing field for competition between truckers from Ukraine and Poland.”
Sikorski said that, while Poland appreciates that Ukraine is in "dire need of our solidarity," the solidarity of all of Europe "cannot fall on just one section of the Polish economy.”