Where Are You Going, Ukraine?

The geopolitical location between Russia and Germany has historically determined Poland’s foreign policy in which a privileged place has been given to Ukraine. Polish policy-makers perceive Ukrainian independence as the main barrier preventing the restoration of Russian imperial ambitions. Consequently, Poland has been unwavering in its commitment to supporting the Ukrainians in their resistance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This attitude is clearly visible in Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s 2023 lecture at the University of Heidelberg. Nevertheless, relations between Ukraine and Poland, and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, are far more complex than is mostly acknowledged. The theses on foreign policy that Morawiecki presented may be contested. Polish policy-makers do not recognize that the Ukrainian nationalist ideas, based on the slogan “Nation above all,” are very different from theirs. Upon proper recognition of the multifaceted causes of war, a cease-fire and a peaceful settlement of the crisis could be achieved.