Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, berated French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday April 9th for his attempts at negotiation with Russia throughout the unjustified invasion of Ukraine. “Nobody negotiated with Hitler,” said Morawiecki, in a striking comparison, calling attention to the lack of success that Macron’s negotiation tactics have received. Morawiecki’s statements follow the retreat of Russia over the weekend from many Central and Eastern parts of Ukraine which have revealed tragedies that most Western countries have designated war crimes.
“Mr. President Macron, how many times have you negotiated with Putin, what have you achieved? Have you stopped any of the actions that have taken place?” Morawiecki questioned Macron in his speech. In response to these allegations, a French presidential official responded that, “From the onset, the president has used all available means to make Putin stop the war: massive sanctions, support to Ukraine, demands made directly to President Putin during their calls.” However, it is Poland’s view that Macron’s attempts at negotiations are ultimately futile, and that he should be putting his efforts solely into offensive actions now alongside Ukraine, especially following the uncovering of these criminal actions. “One should not negotiate with criminals, one should fight them,” said Morawiecki.
Following Russia’s retreat from Kyiv, Bucha, and other Ukrainian cities over the weekend, cities previously unobserved during the war due to conflict revealed death tolls and brutalities that many countries have now condemned as major war crimes. The images and accounts uncovered in these cities has left much of the world shocked, horrified, and angry. These horrors have led to the imposition of new sanctions from the Western world targeted toward Putin’s two daughters, barring all new Western investment in Russia, and generating full blocking sanctions against Russia’s two largest banks for the first time since the invasion began, according to NBC News.
In addition to sanctions, many countries including the U.S., France, and Poland have continued to send military aid to Ukraine. Seeing as Putin has unleashed a war of terror among the Ukrainian civilian population that has only continued to brutalize throughout previous weeks, many countries have increasingly grown to feel as though isolating Putin and condemning him to irrefutable isolation is the only way to slow him down.
In coming weeks, it remains important for Ukraine’s allies to continue both sending support to Ukraine and bolstering efforts against Putin’s inhumane and criminal actions that will permanently decrease his international hold on power. War criminals are hardly ever punished for their crimes, according to the New York Times’ Max Fisher, as long as they remain in power. Thus, Macron’s continued attempts at negotiation and peaceful talks with Putin create uncertainty among those who are looking to ensure that Putin is held accountable for his crimes by the international community. Although direct negotiations held some promise earlier in the war, as stated by the Élysée, Putin has only lied and proven paranoid during previous calls with France, proving this method of negotiation to be increasingly futile.
Poland’s urgency is justified as Russia’s actions reveal the lack of humanity its leader seems to feel toward the countries and people they have invaded. Poland and other former Soviet-controlled territories can see a potential future threat when they hear about the horrors Putin has unleashed on Ukraine. If Putin is not held accountable for these crimes on humanity, it is very possible that he will eventually continue his imperialist ventures into other territories, including Morawiecki’s Poland. Ultimately, Putin must be held accountable for his actions in Ukraine in order to both terminate the terror he has unleashed on Ukrainian populations, and to ensure that no other Russian invasions are allowed to occur in the future. The international community’s response now will set a precedent for the future.
