One of the highlights of Minister Sikorski’s visit to London was his address in the House of Commons, where he also unveiled a Shahed-136 drone as an example of an aircraft used by Russia to strike Ukraine. The Kremlin has been terrorising Ukrainians with this type of drones and, most recently, used decoy drones to violate the Polish airspace. Such a drone cannot reach London, but a fleet of scrap is very well able to destroy critical infrastructure. In his speech, Radosław Sikorski stressed that the United Kingdom also falls prey to the hybrid war waged against NATO by Vladimir Putin. Minister Sikorski underlined that, if we are to win, we must act together. He also drew attention to other challenges Poland is faced with, such as illegal migrants sent from Belarus, instances of arson, and attacks against financial institutions and hospitals.

“We do not know what else Vladimir Putin will come up with to test us, but we need to face this together and we are doing it. (…) We need to convince Putin that we are ready to stay the course (…), that Ukraine will not be abandoned, that she will have the resources to keep the Ukrainian state, army, and defence industry going. And then Russia can be made to change course,” Polish foreign minister said. Russia only ever reforms itself after a lost war. Ergo Russia needs to lose to war for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of European peace, and for the sake of Russia. And we should stay the course to help,” he stressed. The Minister added that there have been lost wars in Russia’s history, such as the Crimean War, the Russo–Japanese War of 1905, and the invasion of Poland of 1920.

Radosław Sikorski referred to this September’s Russian drone incursion into Poland, resulting in multiple violations of NATO’s and EU’s airspace. He noted that last month “21 drones crossed the Polish border, many of which were shot down by Polish and Dutch air forces.” That night, the drone detection systems worked, NATO Air Policing performed well, and so did the command structure.

 “Our society turned out to be resilient, and our alliances—strong,” said Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski.

The foreign minister’s London visit also served as an opportunity to participate in a round table discussion involving representatives of top British think tanks, such as Chatham House, the CER, RUSI, the Council on Geostrategy, and the IISS.

The meeting with the British Foreign Secretary focused on Poland–UK bilateral cooperation within the framework of our strategic partnership, including ongoing works on the Defence and Security Treaty. Foreign ministers of Poland and the United Kingdom discussed security in a broad sense, support for Ukraine, and defence cooperation, most notably within the North Atlantic Alliance.

 

Photo: Sebastian Indra/MSZ