Tusk to Europe: Peace Runs Through Strength

Poland's prime minister used the Warsaw Security Forum to demand harder sanctions, tougher resolve, and a united front against Moscow.

By The Defense Desk

Standing before an audience of European political, military, and defense industry figures in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a blunt warning: Russia will not stop with Ukraine, and Europe must stop it now. [1]

Tusk framed Moscow's ambitions as an existential project — one designed to "dismantle the security architecture in Europe so that Russian dominance returns to the state it was before 1989." [1]

The keynote drew a direct response from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who addressed the forum virtually. [1]

Zelenskyy also claimed that recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers had diminished the amount of disinformation online, suggesting the centers had been used by Russian online provocateurs. [1]

Two leaders, two capitals, one argument: that collective resolve is the only credible deterrent — and that hedging, in either Brussels or Washington, is itself a strategic choice with costs.

Tusk closed with a line aimed well beyond the Warsaw hall: "Ukraine will not be broken or intimidated. Poland will not be broken or intimidated. Europe, NATO, and the entire free world will not be broken or intimidated. That message must go out today from every capital—from Warsaw to Washington." [1]

The path to peace does not lie through weakness. The path to peace lies in stopping the aggressor with all available means and forces.Donald Tusk