Further weakening of Russia's economy to force it into peace talks – Sikorski
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will be forced to enter peace negotiations due to the further exhaustion of the Russian economy.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated this in a comment to TVP World, Ukrinform reports.
"What will bring Russia to the table is the further degradation of the Russian economy, so that Putin understands he can not possibly achieve his war aims," Sikorski stressed.
He noted that, given the current pace of the Russian army's advance, it would take Russia decades to occupy Ukraine.
"But this is the trouble with dictators, because once you have been in power for 20 years, there are very few people who will tell you like it is," Sikorski stated.
He also expressed concern about the possibility of freezing the conflict for many years. In his view, together with ending the war, Ukraine must be not only capable of integrating into the EU, but also of defending its own borders.
Otherwise, there will be a scenario for a new war, Sikorski said.
He believes that a just solution is possible only when Russian elites acknowledge that "the original invasion was a mistake and that the aim of rebuilding the Russian empire is unachievable."
He emphasized that concessions to Putin, who is demanding that the entire Donbas be handed over to him, would look like a reward for the aggressor.
At the same time, Sikorski stressed that Ukraine, which is set to receive EUR 90 billion from Europe over the next two years, is firmly determined to continue fighting the aggressor.
He is convinced that regardless of the outcome of the next US presidential election, Europe must rebuild its own defense industry.
"If the US gets involved in a war in Asia, and we cannot exclude that, it might not be capable of helping us. And so we have, till the end of the decade, to build the kind of military that Putin will be reluctant to challenge," Sikorski emphasized.
Commenting on the presence of US troops in Poland, Sikorski said that everything indicates that the Americans intend to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in US bases on Polish territory.
"The US has a very favorable status of forces agreement [in Poland]. We contribute about $15,000 per soldier per annum, which, you know, this is our argument and it's true. It is cheaper for the US to keep a US soldier and to exercise him or her in Poland than in the US. It's, you know, that's mutually advantageous," Sikorski explained.
In his view, the United States will not withdraw its troops from Europe, but a different type of allied relationship will emerge, which in the long term could be stronger.
"President Trump was right, right at the beginning during his first time when he said that Europe had been consuming the peace dividend for too long and we've heard him and we've doubled our spending since then," Sikorski concluded.
As Ukrinform reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media platform X that Russia's overnight air attack on January 5, which damaged a hospital in Kyiv, should remind partners that there can be no pause in support for Ukraine.
From the evening of Sunday, January 4, Russians attacked Ukraine with nine Iskander-M ballistic missiles/S-300 surface-to-air guided missiles, as well as 165 strike UAVs of the Shahed and Gerbera types and drones of other types.