Polish prime minister urges countries to step up defence spending after Russian missile bound for Ukraine breaches airspace

The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, says Europe is entering a “prewar” era, cautioning that the continent is not ready and urging European countries to step up defence investment.

In an interview with a group of European newspapers reported by the BBC, Tusk said: “I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past. It’s real and it started over two years ago.”

Tusk’s comments came days after a Russian missile briefly breached Polish airspace during a major attack on Ukraine, prompting Warsaw to put its forces on heightened readiness. Ukrainian officials have said large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks had targeted energy infrastructure.

Tusk has been using his platform to try to add a sense of urgency to Europe’s debates about defence and aid to Ukraine, amid fears about the future of American assistance and concerns about defence industrial capacity.

  • hitmyspot@aussie.zoneEnglish
    62·
    8 months ago

    Climate change is also an imminent emergency. The conparison is apt. Funding was always the problem. If it was cheaper or same cost to be green, everyone already would be. Both are a threat. It just happens that a threat involving enrichment of entrenched companies in the military industrial complex is easier to approve than those portrayed as tree hugging hippies.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      8 months ago

      The military is pretty damn green for what they do, at least here in the USA. We also get a lot of innovation from military spending, not just on the green front but medical as well. Wars are about as anti-green as it gets so ignoring one that could potentially cause major issues, seems the opposite of what you want to be doing.