U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ warning that failing to support Ukraine could leave Poland and other countries open to attack by Russia is resonating in Poland
Wanda Kwiatkowska eagerly read reports on Wednesday morning about the U.S. presidential debate — and they convinced her that a second Trump presidency would be a grave threat to her home of Poland and the larger region.
Former President Donald Trump twice refused to directly answer a question during the debate about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win the war. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris praised U.S. and NATO support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion so far — and called for it to continue.
“Otherwise, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland,” she said.
That’s an argument that many in Poland make themselves, and it resonated Wednesday in the nation of 38 million people whose geography makes it particularly sensitive to the debate. The NATO member is wedged between partners in the European Union in the west and, to the east, the Russian region of Kaliningrad, Russian ally Belarus and Ukraine.
As a result, the war is always present in Poland, whether from occasional accidental incursions into Polish airspace or the large numbers of refugees who have settled there.
Fears that Putin could prevail in Ukraine and then turn his sights on areas of central Europe once under Moscow’s control — including the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — have been present since Russia first illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
