Kaczynski: Deployment of NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine should not end with Third World War

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said this in an interview with Polska Times, Ukrinform reports.

"Yet such an intervention [the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine] can be peaceful. I proposed this during my visit to Kyiv [on March 15] because I saw the need to create a strategic alternative to Russian troops. Ukraine still controls most of its territory, and NATO units can enter there at the invitation of the Ukrainian authorities," Kaczynski said.

He noted that in March, he voiced his proposal at a time when Russian troops wanted to capture Kyiv, from where they were driven out.

Kaczynski said that now even the former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, General Wesley Clark, is talking about a possible NATO military intervention in Ukraine.

"I think that, perhaps, this is not a decision with no alternatives. However, of course, it deserves serious consideration, and it should not end with the Third World War at all," Kaczynski said.

In the interview, he said that it seemed the armed conflict that had lasted in Donbas since 2014 would weaken Ukraine for many years.

"Meanwhile, it turned out that it strengthened it," Kaczynski stressed.

He again criticized Hungary for its position on Ukraine. He expressed regret that Budapest's position on Ukraine and Russia had not changed since the parliamentary elections. He noted that Hungary supported the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, and therefore is not a "real ally of Moscow."

"However, the fact is that we now live in a world where we need to be resolute and unequivocal, not neutral. Neutrality is not enough today," Kaczynski said.

For the first time, Kaczynski announced his idea to send a NATO peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine on March 15 as part of a joint visit to Kyiv by the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This was the first visit by international guests of such a high level to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia's all-out armed aggression against Ukraine on February 24.