The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has recently come out and warned about the possibility of war shortly. His statements were a response to the recent attacks on the energy of Ukraine and Putin’s warnings that if Ukraine is supplied with Western F-16 fighter jets, he will target Western countries like Poland. This increased tension in the war has created a lot of paranoia, which is what Tusk talked about. He stated that “ War was no longer a concept of the past. It’s real, and it started two years ago.” His statement directly refers to the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which started a little over two years ago in February of 2022. This was the first major Russian conflict in decades, the last being the Cold War, which caused a lot of tension. Unlike the Cold War, this conflict is active, people are fighting and dying.
The war has caused a lot of political issues because Ukraine was asking to join NATO before they were attacked. Many countries in NATO have supported them, with countries like the US directly supplying them with weapons and other resources. Russia already has not had a good relationship with these countries, and their involvement has only made things worse. The Russian Government, specifically Putin have been making up excuses for their violence claiming they have made attacks on Russian soil even when they had no involvement. Putin could and has influenced the country to mistrust the West including countries like the US and the UK. Despite Putin saying that he has no intent to attack these countries, Tusk has continued to argue that war is possible. Other countries in the area around Poland have stated similar things, saying that if Russia can just invade and take over part of Ukraine, what’s stopping them from doing the same to other countries? Most of these countries either share a border with Russia or are very close to them, meaning they are much more likely to be affected by a possible invasion than other European countries. Because of the increased threat, these countries have spent significantly more on their military than the majority of NATO. Even if there is no active war, it is good for these countries to prepare, because anything can happen.
