Korybko To Kosiniak-Kamysz: Defending Poland’s Skies Is More Important Than Defending Ukraine’s

The ruling liberal coalition has fearmongered that Russia might test Article 5 in months yet hypocritically thought nothing of giving Ukraine some of its Patriot missiles earlier this spring in the middle of the Third Gulf War after it was already obvious by then that they’d be in short supply.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz lashed out at the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate for calling on the EU to stop funding Ukrainian arms till Kiev “enters the path of pro-human values” after Zelensky’s state-level glorification of the Volhynia Genocide’s OUN-UPA culprits. Despite a reputable poll from Poland’s leading conservative newspaper showing that nearly half of Poles now want to stop arming Ukraine, Kosiniak-Kamysz described this view as “detached from reality”. In his words:

“Russia has carried out the most powerful attack since the start of the invasion, using ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukraine, and is announcing preparations for a large-scale military mobilization. This shows just how detached from reality are the voices calling for weakening support for Ukraine or slowing down the modernization of the Polish army. That’s why we’re doing everything to ensure that Russian missiles never reach Poland and nothing threatens our security. We won’t relent on this!”

No serious figure is calling for “slowing down the modernization of the Polish Army”, but many question why liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed to secretly transfer some of Poland’s Patriot missiles to Ukraine in the middle of the Third Gulf War after it was already obvious by then that they’d be in short supply. Even more scandalously, Tusk fearmongered shortly after that Russia might test NATO’s Article 5 in “months”, the forecast of which was lent false credence by deep state claims later in the summer.

Unlike what Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote, bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses doesn’t help Poland; to the contrary, it deprives Poland of the increasingly limited missiles required for protecting its own airspace in the far-fetched event that Russia initiates a crisis. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Colonel Yury Ignat admitted in early July, so several months after Poland secretly transferred some of its Patriot missiles, that not a single ballistic missile was intercepted during Russia’s systematic strikes at the time.

Instead of saving its missiles to protect its own skies, Poland gave what Tusk later confirmed to have been five of its Patriot missiles to Ukraine, which were then all used up and ultimately made no difference since Russia is now exploiting Ukraine’s lack of air defenses to carry out larger attacks. “Public Pressure Is Pushing Poland’s Ruling Liberals To Harden Their Approach To Ukraine”, however, and Tusk has since assured Poles that he doesn’t plan to transfer any more to Ukraine due to limited stockpiles.

Nevertheless, the damage to Polish national security is already done, but Kosiniak-Kamysz is doubling down on the ruling liberal coalition’s blunder instead of keeping quiet and hoping that it blows over. Although recently declassified documents prove that his government has given around ten times less military aid to Ukraine than the former conservative one, around €350 million compared to around €3.4 billion, the spiraling Polish-Ukrainian dispute makes such arms transfers more unpopular than ever.

Both halves of Poland’s ruling duopoly have discredited themselves on this issue, which leaves the two libertarian-nationalist parties as the only ones with credibility after demanding Volhynia-related political strings to this aid from the get-go. It’s little wonder then that recent polling shows that they now have more combined support than the conservatives and slightly less than the liberals. The Polish-Ukrainian dispute might thus revolutionize domestic politics ahead of fall 2027’s next Sejm elections.