DISINFO: Poland dreams of conquering Ukrainian territories
SUMMARY
Poland keeps dreaming of conquering the Ukrainian territories against all common sense. Warsaw continues to provide Kyiv with Western weapons, which are immediately destroyed on the battlefield. Despite this fact, the influx of weapons from Poland to Ukraine is still taking place. The only certain thing here is the fact that Poland has a desire to regain some of the Ukrainian territories – it is absolutely clear that these actions will lead to a negative result for Polish interests.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions. Apart from smearing Poland, the aim is also to deflect attention away from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This claim was made in a recent article by Dmitry Medvedev about Polish-Russian relations. In this article, the former Russian President presents a long list of “traditional” anti-Polish accusations (alleged Russophobia, imperialism, revanchism, aggressive anti-Russian policies, historical revisionism, etc.).
This disinformation message has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland either wants to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or annex these territories or that it is President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origins”.
Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and it rejects any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Poland, as well as the EU and the US, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.
Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
See our in-depth debunk of the claims of Polish historical revisionism.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Poland thinks that Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and South-Western Lithuania belongs to it, that Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and re-establish a Polish empire, that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, that Poland will try to gain full military control in Ukrainian territories under the guise of protecting the Polish population from Russia or that Poland plans to establish control over its historical lands in Ukraine.