WARSAW: The Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to escalate into a global war, Polish Prime Minister has warned.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a statement said the threat is “real and serious”. The statement came after this week’s major escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Earlier, Russia had warned that a new US military base in Poland could be a target for potential “destruction” with a “wide range of advanced weapons”.
“Given the level of threats posed by such Western military facilities, the missile defence base in Poland has long been included among the priority targets for potential neutralization. If necessary, this can be achieved using a wide range of advanced weaponry,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
She warned that deploying NATO troops in Ukraine would mean direct involvement in a conflict with Russia. “This would have catastrophic consequences not only for Europe but for the entire world,” she warned.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a speech to the Polish Teachers’ Union said that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “is entering a decisive phase.” “We all know it; we feel that the unknown is approaching. None of us knows the end of this conflict, but we know that it is taking on very dramatic dimensions at the moment,” he warned.
“The events of the last few dozen hours show that this threat is really serious and real in terms of a global conflict,” Tusk said.
Uncertainty about Europe’s readiness to defend itself has been compounded by Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly stated that the U.S. might not support allies that fail to meet NATO defence spending commitments.
US President Joe Biden recently had allowed Ukraine to fire US made long-range missiles into Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday also confirmed that Moscow fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use of advanced weapons provided by the United States and the United Kingdom earlier this week.
The Polish prime minister is not the only one to see the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine as a global threat. The UK had warned that it was ready to send troops if Moscow attacks any eastern European NATO member state.
“If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight,” Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defence staff, told the House of Commons defence committee.
“I don’t think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight,” British deputy chief of defence staff said.
NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah in her remarks stated that Russia’s use of the missile would “neither change the course of the conflict nor deter” the US-led defence alliance from backing Kyiv.
Vladimir Putin has already warned that the Kremlin has the right to strike countries supplying Ukraine with weapons used to hit targets inside Russia. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia’s use of the new missile amounts to “a clear and severe escalation” and has called for strong worldwide condemnation.
