Ukraine's vital ally - Why Poland matters in the Russian-Ukrainian war

It's easy to think of the invasion of Ukraine through the lens of cold-war American-Russian competition, with Washington having been one of the first to announce substantial weapon shipments and financial support for Ukraine from February onward.

But support for Ukraine has been a pan-European affair, with some nations going to extraordinary lengths when contrasted with their limited resources. The Baltic and many Eastern European nations stand out in this regard for the willingness they've shown to dig deep into their military reserves in order to get hardware into Ukrainian hands.

In terms of volumes for key heavy equipment like tanks and mobile rocket and artillery systems, Poland stands out as a critical source. Warsaw has emerged as one of Ukraine's staunchest advocates, shipping tanks by the hundred, and allowing its territory to be converted into a logistical hub while opening its doors to Ukrainians by the millions.

In this video I try to give historical context to Poland's decision to throw its resources behind Ukraine and put focus on what this nation, with an economy nominally the size of New Jersey's (ppp-aside), has done to keep the Ukrainian army fighting while preserving the lives and wellbeing of millions of Ukrainian civilians.

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 – For our freedom and yours: Poland and the Ukraine War
00:00:57 – Ukraine's most important allies (by GDP figures)
00:01:33 – America has limits
00:02:48 – What am I covering?
00:03:29 – History of Polish-Russian relations
00:04:18 – History: Destruction of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
00:08:03 – History: Partition and occupation
00:10:26 – History: “The Red Flag” - the Polish-Soviet war (1918)
00:11:27 – History: “The Red Flag” - Soviets are back (1939)
00:13:42 – Poland's strategic situation
00:15:10 – The Stakes for Poland
00:17:06 – Poland's Support: Civilians
00:19:43 – Poland's Support: Arms
00:21:02 – Poland's Support: Armoured Vehicles
00:22:28 – Poland's Support: Small Arms
00:24:44 – Poland's Support: Artillery & Ordnance
00:27:03 – Poland's Support: Scale
00:28:28 – Poland's Support: Logistics
00:32:36 – Russian retribution
00:34:07 – Why does all this matter
00:37:12 – What could have been
00:39:39 – Poland's Military transformation
00:43:03 – Poland's post-war possibilities
00:46:43 – Summary
00:48:13 – Channel update

[PerunAU]

Key caveat on this one has to be regarding weapon deliveries and refugee statistics:

RE: weapons deliveries - stats are point in time and confirmed/announced deliveries only. This means that those nations passing equipment secretly, or who have announced after I prepared this video are not given appropriate credit (and there are a few of those.)

RE: refugees - As of May it's been fairly common for more Ukrainians to return to Ukraine from Poland than to leave. While millions of Ukrainians have left at one point or another, counting how many remain in Poland is a week to week affair. The key point remains that the country welcomed them by the millions, and that the border remains open.

I should also note for those that aren't aware, the colours on the Polandball in the thumbnail are a long running internet meme. it's not an error (well, it is, but that's the meme)

As an aside, I know this topic may not be a front-of-the news one, but it was one I thought deserved some coverage before we get back into economics or myth busting. Thanks for watching.

[KiithNaabal]

I am German and lived for years in Poland. They always warned me about Russian ambitions and while I understood this from an historical perspective, I thought they were a bit paranoid. Turns out, they were not.

[suifufunun]

as a Pole I'm willing to say that there is nothing that can unify countries like Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Baltic States and Finland more than historically justified deep uninamous hatred for Russia and its excesses.

[maxkronader]

"And are you really a Polish government if you deny yourself the chance to punch Russia in the teeth?"
Classic!😁

[mikeceebo]

My Polish grandfather's favourite Russki joke:
Yuri Gagarin has just flown into space. A kid runs into the living room, where his dad is reading the newspaper.
- Daddy, daddy, the Russians have just gone into space!
- What, all of them?!
- Noo, just the one...
- Aaahhhh then stop pestering me with this crap.

[ferdomravec]

Question: You are a polish soldier, from west you are attacked by a German tank, and from the east by Russian artillery. Which way you should shoot back first ?
Answer: First towards the German tank. Why? Because "work before pleasure".
- old polish joke with 1939 background

[kielcemen]

As a Pole I must say this. When it comes to out of proportion help there are also Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Same story, just smaller countries.

[michaziomek]

I think there is also a morale component missing. When Poland threw the border open and announced that Ukrainian refugees get free healthcare and support, a lot of soldiers could focus on defending their country knowing their families are safe and cared for. Some men would not fight knowing their families are not in a safe place.

[knpark]

As a result, when the Poles came from the other side of the world and asked how many weapons we could sell, South Koreans briefly looked into some history books and answered "yes" to our closest kin we never knew existed.

[hgman]

A Polish friend told my dad the following joke years ago: A Pole finds a magic lamp containing a djinn who grants him three wishes. With all three wishes, the Pole wishes that a Mongol Horde would sack Warsaw. After all the wishes have been granted, the perplexed djinn asks the Pole why he would wish such devastation on his own country. The Pole replies that, while it's true his country has suffered, thrice at the hands of the Mongols, they've ridden across and sacked Russia six times in the process.

[andriifedoryshyn]

I am an Ukrainian living in Berlin, but went a few times to Poland in the last months to bring some supplies for the army. Poles, you are just amazing. I was literally crying as I saw all what you have done for our refugees with ny own eyes, I am not even talking about military support.
Dziękuję bardzo, jeszcze Polska nie zginęła!

[matthewtymczyszyn]

I like what you said about not cutting the lecture short for sake of popularity. If you appeal to the widest possible audience you can’t do your job anymore.

[a.h.]

“Legend has it, that if you were to ever enter Lenin’s tomb at night, and shout ‘Pilsudski’ three times, you would hear ‘Nyet!’ three times as well, followed by muffled crying.”

[UserName-eboy]

" -and then it got worse" is a *great* way to describe Polish history

[thegrimcritic]

Can we all seriously just take a moment to recognize and admire the Polish for their consistent resilience and determination to never let their nation fade from history? Most nations and their peoples would easily be broken down and demoralized by simply the first time their country officially collapsed. Poland “collapsed” approximately three to four times and their willpower is stronger than ever. Hats off to you, Poland. You have my undying respect.

[MC-hcqx]

It is probably one of the worst insults to throw at the feet of a Polish person to threaten them with denazification when they fought like Lions against the Soviets and the Nazis and had to pay with the lives of a third of their entire population.

[lewgalicyjski]

“There can be no independent Poland without an independent Ukraine”
- Józef Piłsudski

[Ork]

I have been to the polish-Ukrainian border as Rzeszow in the first week of the war. We drove there with a small convoy from Germany. Dropping supplies and taking 103 refugees back. What the polish people set up there in less than a week was astonishing. We dropped our supplies at a local gym that was used as a logistic hub. There were about 30 local volunteers and a platoon polish army. It was Saturday evening 19:00 and these guys were organized and motivated as someone can be. It took them about 2 minutes to unload a van and before we actually left the compound they started packing our stuff into a truck to distribute it.

We then drove on to a former warehouse that was changed to a refugee camp. Totally improvised. They just took out the lowest level of the high-bay warehouse and the red cross and the army set up beds, sanitary installations, a big kitchen and so on. By that time there was already a bus line established transporting people to the west. Every five or six minutes one bus left with 50 to 60 people. On that day 125.000 refugees crossed the border.

Later we drove to the train station in Rzeszow where we found something very similar just on a smaller scale. When I was waiting in the parking lot there, the truck with our supplies arrived from the gym.
I like to point out I saw civil volunteers from Chechnya, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Swiss, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Spain and even Portuguese (it’s a 3300km drive from there). But what the polish people built up in a few days outweighed all of them.

They were handling the issue with big tools when the German government hadn’t even accomplished a statement. It is not that I disliked poles before this experience. I just didn’t know much of them. Now I have a great deal of respect for Poland and its people. They have lost nothing of the fighting spirit and the moral resolve they so gallantly showed during WW2.

I can totally confirm your statement that the poles wanted to go to Moskov. I spoke to a couple of polish tankers that were deployed at the border. And these guys wanted to cross the border there and then and beat the Russians all the way back to Rostov. Preferable with the rest of NATO. The tune was fight Russia together now, don’t let them pick us apart piece by piece.

[ahtoshkaa]

The immeasurable amount of support that Poland has shown my country after Russia invaded us has sparked a desire in me to learn their language. I already know English, Ukrainian, and Russian. It would be nice to also learn the language of our close ally - Poland.

[kostakatsoulis]

I'm just a dumb American, don't even have any Ukrainian or Polish blood in me, but what I do have is a love is military history, and for whatever reason I always loved researching the Polish contribution in WW2. They were basically surrounded by enemies and fucked over by literally everyone, including their allies, and yet they still fought tooth and nail until their country was lost(also id like to point out: France fell to the Germans in 2 weeks. Poland held out for 4), and even then didn't stop fighting, from the destroyer ORP Poirun, to the Polish 303 squadron in the battle of Britain and beyond, to the Polish home army's final epic stand in the Warsaw Uprising, they fought whenever and however they could, fueled by little more than hatred and spite, and what did they get for it after the war? They got fucked over by their allies again, only this time it came in the form of another foreign occupation.

Also just to point out, it was a team of Polish mathematicians who first cracked enigma and even built several replica enigma machines before they willingly shared all of this with Britain and France, hoping to buy some leverage in a bid not to get fucked over, although that obviously didn't pan out.

Mad respect for them, and its nice to finally see them get a way to deliver at least some form of payback to the Russians