Poland's prime minister believes Europe is in a “pre-war era”.

Donald Tusk believes the continent is experiencing “its most critical moment since World War II”. He calls on his European counterparts to spend “as much as possible” to protect Ukraine.

“I don't want to scare anyone, but war is not a concept of the past.” In an interview with several media including BBC And PoliticsPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk this week called on Europeans to be more vigilant about the war in Ukraine as Russia launched a massive attack on the Ukrainian energy grid.

“I know it's devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to mentally adjust to the arrival of a new era,” he said. “The pre-war era. I'm not exaggerating. It's becoming more and more clear every day,” insisted the head of government, back in his country's business since last December.

“Long way to go”

According to the former President of the European Council, “Europe still has a long way to go”, especially regarding the budget allocated to defence. “We need to spend as much as we can to buy equipment and ammunition for Ukraine, because we are living in a very critical moment at the end of World War II,” he said.

According to Donald Tusk, “If Ukraine loses, no one in Europe will feel safe.”

Although he thinks the European reaction has been too slow, the Polish leader says he is “observing the changes happening in all the capitals of Europe”. “When I was Prime Minister for the first time (Editor's note from 2007 to 2011), there was no one else. […] “The Baltic countries did not heed my warnings that Russia might be a threat,” he said.

While the Kremlin linked the Moscow attack to Ukraine, Donald Tusk warned against Vladimir Putin's willingness to “justify increasingly violent attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine.”

Attack on Moscow: How Putin intends to use it in his war against Ukraine

The Polish prime minister also briefly returned to the violation of his country's airspace by a Russian missile on Sunday, March 24. Russia's ambassador to Poland on Monday ignored an official summons by Polish authorities, deeming it “absurd” to discuss it due to a lack of “evidence”.