Ukraine’s resistance is a beacon of hope for European unity and prosperity, Visegrad Insight says in its editorial.
“Thank you, Ukrainians, for your resilience and courage – also in the name of the farmers who humiliate you in Europe! Accept our apologies for not resolving that internal conflict of ours early enough.
Even in Poland, we have learned our lessons too late. Our boastful claims of expertise in Russian affairs were silenced when our farmers fell under Moscow’s influence. We should have been more vigilant – Russia, with its imperialist ambitions, never misses an opportunity,” the publication writes.
Russia is a power that practices neo-colonialism. Europe as it exists today is far from that. Furthermore, the EU of today is just becoming more capable of handling the difficulties to which you have been exposed to for far too long, according to the Visegrad Insight’s editor-in-chief.
“For a decade of war and two years of intense invasion, Ukrainians have been defending not just their homeland but also the rights of Polish farmers to protest peacefully, far from the frontlines.”
The distance between the war frontlines and the nearest EU border, 500 km from Bucharest, and 1000 km from Warsaw, is startlingly close. The new frontier will be 300 kilometers from Budapest and 700 kilometers from Berlin if Ukraine collapses. Read Putin's lips; he does have some goals in mind.
The EU's vision of a geopolitical union, based on free security from the US, cheap energy from Russia, and inexpensive production from China, actually burned to the ground. To wake up during the previous few years, it took your tenacious resistance. Ukraine's tenacious resistance was necessary to make the EU realize that there are occasions when defending peace requires the use of force. It is now necessary to remind the EU that such a thought is useless in the absence of ammunition production and additional measures.
In the meantime, Ukrainians support European farmers in maintaining their businesses and EU subsidies. The cost of grain for oligarchs to smuggle into Europe would have decreased if Ukrainians had not rebelled against Moscow, Wojciech Przybylski says.
Russians have been flooding EU markets with agricultural products that have been supported by Moscow since 2022. It's true that Russia, not Ukraine, has raised food prices in the EU.
“Yet, we allow pro-Russian propagandists to speak freely – the cost of democracy, the least imperfect of all political regimes.
We should only remind them more often that their children are not stolen away to become cannon fodder on the Russian frontlines because of Ukraine’s fight. And that in Europe, such agitators are not presumed suicide victims en masse, unlike many of their peers in Moscow, who have perished after deviating from the Putinist narrative.”
This war has created a bond between the nations, paving the way for the shared path ahead, the Visegrad Insight’s editor-in-chief writes.
“Central and Eastern Europeans are particularly grateful. Your effort not only provides a buffer from the frontline but also helps us restore the moral compass. You are welcome here as refugees, immigrants and European neighbors.
Our support for Ukraine is not just about morals. We want Ukraine to flourish in the recovery process and elevate our prosperity too. We envision Ukraine as a fully European nation with robust institutions that guard against domestic corruption and ensure transparent competition. This is the great promise beyond the war.”
Wojciech Przybylski added that this war will not be negotiated away. Russia’s history and today’s facts speak for themselves. “Therefore, we stand with you until your victory. Peace cannot be prescribed; it must be fought for. Godspeed!”