Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned that if Ukraine loses its war against Russia, Poland would become Moscow’s next target—placing the entire NATO eastern flank at risk.
Sikorski made the remarks on the British podcast The Rest Is Politics, adding that Ukraine’s military still has the resources to fight for several more years.
“We believe that if Putin conquers Ukraine, we’ll be next. And this has happened before. That’s why we spent 2% of GDP on defense for 20 years, and now we’re spending 4.7%... You know, we’d rather eat grass than become a Russian colony again,” Sikorski said.
He suggested that public resistance in Poland to the threat of Russian expansionism helps explain the country’s high defense spending, even at the expense of other areas.
“This has happened before,” he added-an apparent reference to periods in Polish history under Russian rule, first in imperial times and later under Soviet domination.
Sikorski also argued that Ukraine can continue fighting for three more years because it has the means to do so, while the Kremlin leader cannot sustain that long. “Ukraine is planning for a three-year war, and these colonial wars usually last about 10 years. I don’t think Putin can hold out another three years,” he said.
The foreign minister urged closer cooperation among EU member states on joint defense, noting the bloc has a “synchronization problem” tied to individual national sovereignty. “I support the idea that the European Union should develop its own defense capability, so we don’t have to turn to the United States for every emergency,” Sikorski said.
Sikorski recently clashed publicly with entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk over Musk’s comments about the future of the European Union (https://focus.ua/world/735952-ilon-mask-vlyapalsya-v-skandal-sikorskiy-poslal-ego-na-mars). In his social network X post, Musk suggested the EU should be dissolved and posed a provocative question about how long it has left. Sikorski shot back, telling Musk to “go to Mars.”
Earlier, Sikorski also commented on a potential visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Polish leader Karol Nawrocki. Before that, Nawrocki had urged Zelensky to show gratitude for Poland’s support. Sikorski said the Ukrainian president should consider meeting with Nawrocki.
