Poland warns Donald Trump: Don’t trade Ukraine’s land for peace

Financial Times reports this. 

Donald Trump risks a “historical mistake” if any Ukraine peace deal he brokers ends with the U.S. recognizing Russia’s claims to Crimea or other occupied territories, Polish government adviser Paweł Kowal warned ahead of a visit to Washington.

A "red line" would be crossed for Poland and central Europe, said Kowal, who chairs Poland’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee and advises Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "It would be horrible" if anyone legitimized Russian expansion.

Kowal is in the U.S. this week for meetings with members of Congress and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy on Ukraine. His message is clear: ending the war must not mean redrawing Ukraine’s borders.

There’s a difference between temporary solutions to stop fighting and fulfilling Russia’s expectations to recognize Crimea, Donbas, or other parts of Ukraine. That would be a "historic mistake", he said.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, sending arms and opening its borders to refugees. But recent Trump remarks — criticizing NATO allies and praising Vladimir Putin — have raised alarms in Warsaw.

Kowal emphasized that Europe’s post–Cold War peace is rooted in respecting borders, saying: “Russia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, recognised Ukraine with their borders, also including Crimea and Donbas, and that’s the basis of the rules of international law. The international legal guarantees for borders in central Europe are also some of the main guarantees to keep peace in that region, according to our historical experience.”

While Trump has sidelined European leaders in his Ukraine talks, Kowal warned that security in Ukraine cannot be separated from the security of central Europe.

He also pushed back on talk of a post-war coalition, stressing the need for immediate support: “We should be concentrating on [immediate] tactical support to Ukraine, because I see how Putin could use the time of the negotiations with the U.S.”

• Foreign policy expert Stanislav Zelikhovskyi says that the countries targeted by the U.S. with harsh tariff duties may shift their focus to the Chinese market.