go to tvp.pl
  • LIVE

    • Search on website

    Start writing...

    Politics

    Treatment of Zelenskyy ‘horrifying,’ ex-Polish president Wałęsa tells Trump

    Reuters/
     03.03.2025, 11:38 | Update 14:17

    Lech Wałęsa, the former Polish president and Solidarity trade union boss who played a key role in the fall of Communism, has signed a letter to Donald Trump expressing “horror” at the U.S. president’s argument with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    The Nobel Peace Prize-winner posted the text of the letter, which was signed by 39 Polish former political prisoners, on Facebook on Monday.


    In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three, casting into doubt Washington's ongoing support for Ukraine in its three-year-long war with Russia.


    "We watched your conversation with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy with horror and distaste," the letter signed by Wałęsa said.


    "We consider your expectations regarding showing respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States to Ukraine in its fight with Russia to be offensive," the letter continued.


    "Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defence of the values ​​of the free world."


    Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid into Zelenskyy during the meeting, driving relations with Kyiv's most important wartime ally to a new low. The Ukrainian leader was told to leave, a U.S. official said.


    The letter signed by Wałęsa compared the atmosphere during the meeting to that found in "interrogations by the Security Service and... in communist courts".


    It also called on the United States to fulfill the security guarantees given to Ukraine in 1994 after the break-up of the Soviet Union.


    "These guarantees are unconditional: there is not a word there about treating such aid as economic exchange," the letter said.


    The U.S. embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


    Poland's current president, Andrzej Duda, said on Saturday that Zelenskyy should get back to negotiations with the U.S.

    ‘Manufactured escalation’


    Across Poland’s western border, Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, suggested on Monday that Trump and Vance may have deliberately provoked a row.

    “It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelenskyy, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office,” Merz told a news conference in Hamburg.
    #POLAND#US#TRUMP#UKRAINE
    More In Politics MORE...
    item.image.alt
    UPDATE: Trump announces 90-day tariff pause for most but increases levy on China
    Politics
    item.image.alt
    Poland suggests US may change tack over Russia as patience runs out
    Politics
    item.image.alt
    Romania’s centrists abandon leader to back Bucharest mayor for president
    Politics
    item.image.alt
    UPDATE: German conservatives reach coalition deal with centre-left SPD
    Politics

    We respect your privacy

    Telewizja Polska S.A. w likwidacji processes your personal data collected when you visit individual websites on the tvp.pl Portal (hereinafter referred to as the Portal), including information saved using technologies used to track and store them, such as cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies enabling the provision of tailored and secure services, personalize content and advertising, provide social media features and analyze Internet traffic.

    Click "I accept and go to the website" to consent to the use of automatic tracking and data collection technology, access to information on your end device and its storage, and to the processing of your personal data by Telewizja Polska S.A. w likwidacji, Trusted Partners from IAB* and other Trusted TVP Partners, for marketing purposes (including for automated matching of advertisements to your interests and measuring their effectiveness) and others, which we indicate below.

    The purposes of processing your data by TVP S.A. w likwidacji are as follows:
    1. Store and/or access information on a device
    2. Use limited data to select advertising
    3. Create profiles for personalised advertising
    4. Use profiles to select personalised advertising
    5. Create profiles to personalise content
    6. Use profiles to select personalised content
    7. Measure advertising performance
    8. Measure content performance
    9. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources
    10. Develop and improve services
    11. Use limited data to select content
    12. Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors
    13. Deliver and present advertising and content
    14. Save and communicate privacy choices
    TVP S.A. w likwidacji process your data for the purposes of features. As part of these features, we may take the following actions:
    1. Match and combine data from other data sources
    2. Link different devices
    3. Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
    The purposes of processing your data by Trusted Partners from IAB and other Trusted Partners of TVP are as follows:
    1. Store and/or access information on a device
    2. Use limited data to select advertising
    3. Create profiles for personalised advertising
    4. Use profiles to select personalised advertising
    5. Create profiles to personalise content
    6. Use profiles to select personalised content
    7. Measure advertising performance
    8. Measure content performance
    9. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources
    10. Develop and improve services
    11. Use limited data to select content
    12. Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors
    13. Deliver and present advertising and content
    14. Save and communicate privacy choices
    Trusted Partners from IAB and other Trusted Partners of TVP process your data for the purposes of features and special features. As part of these features, they may take the following actions:
    1. Match and combine data from other data sources
    2. Link different devices
    3. Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
    4. Use precise geolocation data
    5. Actively scan device characteristics for identification

    Consent is voluntary and you can withdraw it at any time in Advanced Settings.

    In addition, you have the right to request access, rectification, deletion or limitation of data processing. In the Privacy Policy, you will find information on how to communicate to us your will to exercise these rights.

    Consent to the use of data for some IAB Trusted Partners and TVP Trusted Partners may be related to the transfer of data to the United States or other third countries (not belonging to the European Economic Area, which includes the Member States of the European Union as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). In connection with the above, we would like to inform you about the possible risk that may be associated with the transfer of data to third countries, consisting in the possible lack of an adequate level of protection of natural persons related to the processing of their personal data, which is guaranteed by the provisions of the GDPR (Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46 / EC), due to the lack of an adequacy decision by the European Commission and the lack of adequate security.

    The user's personal data processed by TVP may be processed both on the basis of the user's consent as well as on the basis of a legitimate interest, i.e. without the consent of the Portal user (only for the purposes necessary to ensure the proper operation of the Portal). TVP processes user data on the basis of a legitimate interest only in situations where it is necessary for the provision and proper operation of the Portal, i.e. maintenance and technical support of the Portal, ensuring security, preventing fraud and removing errors, statistical measurements necessary for the proper functioning of the Portal.

    Detailed information on the processing of your data can be found in the Privacy Policy.

    Advanced settings
    Enable All and Enter our Website
    Remove Consents