Why Were Ukrainian Military Personnel Not Invited to Participate in the Grand Military Parade in Warsaw?

After all, this date is deeply symbolic for both our nations. August 15 marks the anniversary of the “Miracle on the Vistula” in 1920, when Polish troops, together with soldiers of the Ukrainian People’s Republic Army under the command of General Mark Bezruchko, repelled the Bolshevik invasion and saved not only Polish statehood but all of Europe. It would seem that a joint march on Vistula Street today would be perfectly natural.

But if we look at what happened in Warsaw with a clear head and without provincial egocentrism, it becomes clear: the Ukrainian issue was not even a topic of discussion there this time. Not because we were forgotten or devalued, but because this parade became the epicenter of the fiercest internal Polish political duel.

Poland is entering a decisive election year. The parade on Vistula Avenue turned into a battleground for an uncompromising struggle for control over the army, the support of security forces, and voters’ votes between Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki. And the prime minister brilliantly set a political trap into which the president drove himself.

The main flashpoint of the confrontation was the SAFE program—a large-scale European defense initiative launched by Tusk’s government, worth 43.7 billion euros (over 180 billion zlotys), aimed at procuring Krab howitzers, Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles, air defense systems, and the expansion of the “Eastern Shield.” President Navrotsky, adhering to the conservative opposition’s party line, vetoed the legislation on SAFE, arguing that it would plunge Poland into debt until 2071 and cede sovereignty to Brussels.

Tusk responded with a masterstroke. The government officially held a military parade under the slogan “Polska SAFE – bezpieczna Polska,” and the prime minister himself, at a naval parade in Gdynia, directly called attempts to block defense funding irresponsible and harmful to Polish soldiers. That is precisely why EU and NATO countries, united by a common defense policy, participated in the parade.

The president found himself in a bind: he had to review the parade as Commander-in-Chief, but all the military equipment and the entire spectacle surrounding it were presented as a triumph of the government’s program.

Instead of maintaining his status as the nation’s nonpartisan leader in the presence of the army, Navrotsky made an emotional gesture. In his speech to the troops, he declared that “for centuries, the flags of the Polish Army have borne the words ‘God, Honor, Fatherland,’ not ‘SAFE.’”

This proved to be his fatal tactical mistake. The president attempted to pit a sacred historical motto against the practical funding of military modernization. In the eyes of the military and the public, it looked as though patriotic rhetoric was being used to cover up the blocking of brand-new armor and weapons for the very soldiers standing before the podium.

We in Ukraine need to learn to understand the internal dynamics of our partners. The events in Warsaw on August 15 were not about “forgotten Ukraine,” but about a fierce struggle for the future of the Polish government and the model of European security. When our neighbors are waging a decisive battle for their own defense capabilities, we should carefully analyze the lessons they’re learning, rather than measuring every event by the scale of our wounded pride.

Source