Poland, Ukraine will ‘never again be Russian colonies,’ says Polish Foreign Minister

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday that Poland and Ukraine had chosen never again to fall under Russian domination, accusing Moscow of pursuing a centuries-old imperial policy toward its neighbors.

"We in Poland, and you in Ukraine, have decided: we will never again be Russian colonies," Sikorski said in interviews with Ukrainian broadcasters Espreso TV and Slawa TV marking Ukraine's Independence Day on Monday. His remarks were widely picked up by Ukrainian media on Tuesday.

Sikorski, who also serves as Poland's deputy prime minister, said fears of Russian aggression should not be dismissed as "Russophobia," arguing that such concerns were rooted in Moscow's record of military expansion and attempts to assimilate neighboring peoples.

"Fear of Russia is not irrational, because Russia poses a real threat to its neighbors," he said, adding that Moscow must ultimately accept internationally recognized borders and abandon what he described as its imperial ambitions.

"Russians must decide once and for all where Russia ends," Sikorski said.

The Polish foreign minister also argued that Russia's appropriation of the heritage of Kyivan Rus formed part of a broader historical effort to subordinate Ukraine and other nations in the region.

Sikorski said Poland and Ukraine shared an interest in seeing Russia become what he called a "normal nation" that respects its neighbors' borders and concentrates on its own development rather than territorial expansion.

Turning to the war in Ukraine, Sikorski said Russia had suffered around 1.5 million military personnel losses and was relying heavily on contracted troops, recruitment bonuses, debt relief and compensation payments to soldiers' families.

He argued that this was placing growing pressure on the Russian state budget and said a broader mobilization would carry additional political and economic risks for Moscow. Sikorski's casualty estimate was not independently verified.

Sikorski's comments come as Warsaw remains one of Kyiv's strongest political and military supporters within the EU and NATO, despite tensions between the neighbors over agriculture and the treatment of Polish victims of WWII-era massacres in western Ukraine.