Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has wanred that Europe has already entered a “pre-war era,” in his first foreign interview since returning to office at the end of last year.
“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past,” he told European media. “It’s real and it started over two years ago.”
He used his first interview to deliver a direct appeal to Europe’s leaders to do more to bolster its defences. If Ukraine is defeated by Russia, he said, nobody in Europe will be able to feel safe.
Appealing for urgent military aid for Ukraine, he warned that the next two years of the war would decide everything: “We are living in the most critical moment since the end of the Second World War.”
What was most worrying now, he told journalists, was that “literally any scenario is possible”.
“I understand that it will sound devastating, especially to the younger generation, but we have to mentally prepare for the arrival of a new era. The pre-war era. I am not exaggerating.”
Regardless of whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins the US presidential election, he said that Europe would become a more attractive partner to the US if it became more self-sufficient militarily.
“We need a strong alliance with the US and at the same time we must be independent and self-sufficient in terms of defense. Our task is to cultivate transatlantic ties, regardless of who will be the US president,” he said.
