“Money today or blood tomorrow”: Tusk warns Polish independence threatened if Europe lets Ukraine fall

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Poland’s independence would be endangered if Ukraine were forced to capitulate due to insufficient European support, speaking Thursday during a visit to Brussels.

His remarks come as EU leaders negotiate how to finance continued assistance to Ukraine, including a proposed reparations-style loan backed by frozen Russian assets held in the EU. The issue has become central to talks on long-term funding amid legal and political concerns raised by several member states.

“Bad decisions or a lack of decisions”

“Polish independence will be under threat if it turns out that, as a result of bad decisions or a lack of decisions, for example on the part of Europe, Ukraine would be forced to capitulate,” Tusk said, according to RMF24, a major Polish news outlet.

Tusk argued that supporting Ukraine was directly linked to Poland’s own security. “Protecting Ukraine from capitulation is also an effort to prevent Russia from gaining a strategic advantage over us,” he said.

Frozen assets “best available option”

He described the use of frozen Russian assets as the best available option for financing aid to Kyiv. Tusk said there was broad agreement within the EU that the issue must be resolved, but added that some countries were seeking additional safeguards.

Discussions have focused in part on Belgium, where the largest share of the frozen Russian assets is held, and which has expressed concern about potential legal claims from Russia after the war ends.

Tusk dismissed alternative proposals based on new EU borrowing, saying they would require approval from national parliaments and could prove difficult to implement.

“Money today, or blood tomorrow”

Ahead of the summit, he framed the stakes in blunt terms. “We now have a simple choice: either money today, or blood tomorrow,” he said.