The man on the street has a defeated opinion in Poland that Ukraine would secure its western airspace with their air defense.
Recently, a news appeared in the Ukrainian press that Ukraine would ensure the security of its western airspace with Polish air defense. This was discussed by Ilya Jevlas, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian air defense, who said that the topic had already been raised between the two countries at the diplomatic level.
The news is surprising if only because with this Ukraine is practically saying that it would outsource part of the fighting to Poland, almost dragging it into the conflict.
Jevlas himself explained the idea according to this logic, since in this way the western airspace of Ukraine could be protected by Poland, while Kiev could concentrate on Russian bombings on the front.
Well, they can go to their mothers"
- began Gosia, the twenty-year-old university student who is currently studying psychology at the University of Warsaw. He states: The support for Ukraine is completely obvious, because Russia is acting as an aggressor in the war, but this current idea is a completely different matter:
we extend our little finger and they need our whole arm.”
Another speaker, Jarek, who works as a barista, has a similar opinion.
I don't understand how the skin doesn't fall off their faces"
he stated. Similarly to the first speaker, he is also on the side of Ukraine, but he does not like the trend of the Ukrainians making "increasingly ridiculous" requests to their allies. He sees the situation rather pessimistically, he does not really see how Ukraine could come out of the war well, regardless of the amount of support.
The third speaker, Tomasz, also believes that the Ukrainians are demanding more and more, and that it would be appropriate to put them in their place a little.
We already help a lot, and what do I see? Thousands of Ukrainians live here, and last time they started messing around"
- he said, echoing the words of the Polish Defense Minister, who, according to him
"it's quite infuriating to see Ukrainians sitting in cafes" while Poland supports Kiev in the fighting.
Tomasz clarifies when we ask what kind of trouble he has in mind: he is thinking of when Ukrainian men of conscription age recently stormed the passport center in Warsaw. This took place after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced that consular services to Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 would be suspended for an indefinite period, apparently with the aim that they would be able to renew their passports only in Ukraine - thereby inevitably walking into the forced queue. When asked when he thought the war might end, he didn't say anything, just shrugged his shoulders.
Featured image: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv on January 12, 2024. MTI/EPA/Oleh Petraszjuk
