The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Poland will consider acquiring nuclear weapons, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament on Friday, adding that Europe could face war with Russia in the coming years as he announced plans to significantly strengthen military capabilities.
Tusk’s remarks on acquiring nuclear weapons come against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump threatening to withdraw protection for European allies, just as he halted military and intelligence support to Ukraine to pressurise it into peace talks with Russia.
The breach in the transatlantic alliance was demonstrated starkly in the United Nations, when US voted alongside Russia, Belarus and North Korea against a EU-sponsored resolution on Ukraine war. It came also when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was publicly berated by Trump and US Vice-President J.D. Vance in the Oval, in front of a television cameras.
At an emergency EU summit on Thursday, European Union leaders, sans Hungary, endorsed a push for replacing American defence aid and to massively boost defence spending.
The Polish prime minister’s speech in parliament was yet another sign that Europe was preparing for a future without American support.
Expressing Poland’s existential concerns as Washington turns its back on Europe, he said the country must look beyond conventional weapons.
“I say this with full responsibility, it is not enough to purchase conventional weapons, the most traditional ones. The battlefield is changing before our eyes from month to month,” he said.
Poland, he added, “must reach for the most modern possibilities, also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons.” He described it as “a serious race—a race for security, not for war.”
Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron offered to extend France’s nuclear umbrella over the region. Following a phone call with incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he proposed “opening the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent through our deterrent”.
Tusk said Poland was in “serious talks” regarding Macron’s proposal.
While reaffirming Poland’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance and NATO, he acknowledged a “significant shift in US policy regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.” He added, “Every nation, including Poland, has the right and responsibility to carefully assess what aligns with its interests, security, and what may pose a challenge.”
In his speech, Tusk warned that Russia was mobilising on a large scale, suggesting it was preparing for a full-scale confrontation not just with Ukraine but with “somebody significantly larger” in the coming years.
According to Politico, Tusk said that Europe could stand up to Russia with its economic might.
“Our deficit has been the lack of the will to act, having no confidence, and sometimes even cowardice. But Russia will be helpless against united Europe,” Tusk said, adding: “It’s striking but it’s true. Right now, 500 million Europeans are begging 300 million Americans for protection from 140 million Russians who have been unable to overcome 50 million Ukrainians for three years.”
He called for a dramatic expansion of Poland’s military, increasing its manpower from the current 200,000 to 500,000. “By the end of the year, we want to have a model ready so that every adult male in Poland is trained for war and that this reserve is adequate for possible threats,” he said.
He clarified that this would not mean a return to conscription, which ended 17 years ago. “Every healthy man should want to train to defend the homeland if needed. We will structure it in a way that it will not be a burden,” Tusk said, adding that women would also be able to volunteer, though “war is still, to a greater extent, the domain of men.”
Poland currently has the third-largest standing army in Europe and is the continent’s top defence spender in proportion to GDP. This year, it plans to allocate 4.7% of its GDP to defence, up from 3.5% last year.
Tusk also announced plans to withdraw Poland from the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel landmines, and the 2008 Dublin Convention on cluster munitions.