Poland’s Duda influenced Trump’s position on Ukraine, Nausėda says

5 months ago 17

Polish President Andrzej Duda may have impacted the former US president Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine, said his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda, as the Congress is about to pass a $60 billion support package for Kyiv.

Duda’s plans to meet Trump during his recent visit to the US sparked controversy in Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was sceptical but hoped the president would “take a very firm stance on the issue of (Trump) clearly siding with the Western world, democracy, and Europe.”

In this respect, Duda has succeeded, according to Nausėda.

“I have been hearing lately about the different rhetoric of Donald Trump and the willingness of the US authorities to make necessary and long-awaited decisions. I believe that (Duda’s) visit and talks with Donald Trump were positive, produced a positive result, and I am very pleased with this achievement of Andrzej Duda,” the Lithuanian president said, as quoted by Lrt.lt.

So far, Trump has been sending mixed signals on Ukraine, yet he was not in favour of spending the other billions on military support for Kyiv, nor were his most vocal supporters in Congress.

However, just one day after meeting Duda, Trump acknowledged for the first time that Ukraine’s survival was important to the US.

“As everyone agrees, Ukrainian survival and strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

“It was a friendly meeting with a nice atmosphere,” Duda described his Wednesday’s talks with Trump.

“He’s my friend, and we had four great years together,” he said, referring to the period between 2016 and 2020 when both Duda and Trump were leaders of their respective states.

Duda has long admired the former US president and has been one of the European leaders with the best relations with him. He even once suggested naming a military base in his country “Fort Trump.”

“He is doing a fantastic job. People of Poland love him, they really do,” Duda said about Trump, as quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

On Saturday, in a rare show of bipartisan unity, the US House of Representatives approved long-delayed military aid for Ukraine. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the $61 billion earmarked for his country, saying the military and economic aid would “save thousands and thousands of lives.”

Officials from NATO, the European Union and its member states also welcomed the passing of the Ukraine bill.

“Ukraine is using the weapons provided by NATO Allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X.

“Better late than too late. And I hope it is not too late for Ukraine,” Tusk wrote on X, also thanking House Speaker Mike Johnson.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)