“War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven’t seen a situation like this since 1945,” Tusk said in an interview with the European media grouping LENA on Friday.
“I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war era. I’m not exaggerating; it’s becoming clearer every day.”
The former European Council president’s comments came soon after the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war upended an era of peace in Europe and pushed nations into ramping up weapons production.
Tusk further said that no one in Europe would feel safe if Kyiv lost the war.
As former Polish president, Lech Kaczyński, said in 2008:
full text of his speech
Ladies and Gentlemen!
We are here to express total solidarity. We are here the leaders of five countries: Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We are here to take up the fight. For the first time in a long time, our neighbors from the north, and for us also from the north and the east, showed the face we have known for hundreds of years.
These neighbors believe that the nations around them should be subject to them. We say no! This country is Russia. This country believes that the old days of the empire that fell less than 20 years ago are coming back. That domination will again be a feature of this region. Well, it won’t be. These times are over once and for all. Not for twenty, thirty or fifty years!
We all experienced this dominance at the same time, or in slightly different periods. This is a disaster for all of Europe. It is breaking human characters, it is imposing a foreign system, it is imposing a foreign language. But how is the situation different today from that of many years ago? Today we are here together. Today the world had to react, even if it was reluctant to do so. And we are here to make this world react even more strongly. In particular the European Union and NATO.
When I initiated this visit, some people thought that the presidents would be afraid. Nobody was afraid. Everyone came because Central Europe has brave leaders. And I would like to say it not only to you, I would also like to say it to those from our common European Union, that Central Europe, Georgia, that our entire region will count, that we are an entity. And we also know very well that today Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after tomorrow the Baltic States, and then maybe it’s time for my country, Poland!
We were deeply convinced that membership in NATO and the EU would end the period of Russian appetites. It turned out that it was not, that it was a mistake. But we can oppose it if the values on which Europe is supposed to be based have any practical significance. If they are to matter, we must be here, all of Europe must be here. There are four NATO countries here. There is Ukraine, a great country.
There is President Sarkozy, currently the President of the European Council, but there should be 27 of them here. We believe that Europe will understand your right to freedom and will also understand its interests. He will understand that without Georgia, Russia will restore its empire, and this is not in anyone’s interest.
That’s why we are here!
He was right in this one, but still a scumbag