Polish PM: Ukraine ready to fight Russia for another two, three years

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is convinced that Ukraine is prepared to keep fighting Russia for two or three years, but worries about the war dragging on for a decade.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Tusk said Ukraine had a right to attack Russia-linked targets anywhere in Europe after a court in Warsaw blocked a German extradition request earlier this month for a Ukrainian diver accused of involvement in the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines from Russia in 2022.

However, he revealed that Kyiv was anxious about the toll the war would take on its population and economy should it stretch on for longer than a few more years.

“I have no doubts Ukraine will survive as an independent state,” Tusk said. “Now the main question is how many victims we will see. President Zelenskyy told me [on October 23] that he hopes that the war will not last ten years, but that Ukraine is ready to fight for another two, three years.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk shake hands.

Donald Tusk also warned that Britain would be in the line of fire if the Kremlin were to attack a NATO country, and said he had been “shocked” by the level of public complacency about the UK’s safety.

The conflict is also damaging Russia’s economy, which Tusk said had “no chance to survive” in the long run and was facing “dramatic” problems, compounded by fresh oil sanctions imposed by the United States.

Tusk said the domestic turmoil would only make President Putin more aggressive — and he was unsure how “stable” President Trump’s newly punitive approach to Moscow would prove to be.

“The Russians are in really deep trouble [economically],” Tusk said. “Does it mean we can say we are winning? Not at all. They have one big advantage against the West, and Europe especially: they are ready to fight … in wartime, this is absolutely the crucial question.

By Khagan Isayev