Polish Official: Europe incapable of securing a demarcation line between Russia and Ukraine

The European Union is currently unable to provide peacekeeping forces in the event of the creation of a demarcation line between Ukraine and Russia after the cessation of hostilities, a plan that has been advanced in recent days by officials within the Trump Administration, retired General Dariusz Lukowski, head of Poland's National Security Bureau, said in an interview with Radio Zet.

Dariusz Lukowski stated: "The most tangible example of how the problem of the conflict in Ukraine could be resolved is the demarcation line on the Korean Peninsula. A strip about 25 kilometers wide, an intensely mined and carefully guarded area. When talking about the contingent of forces that will ensure peacekeeping in Ukraine, we must take into account geography: the front line is currently over 1,000 kilometers long. It turns out that we will have a very large demarcation line, which means a substantial commitment in terms of the armed forces sent there. In this regard, we must take into account the fact that any forces sent to the area will be mirrored in number in the forces deployed on the other side of the demarcation line by the Russian Federation. We are basically talking about a contingent of 100,000 soldiers, and such a force cannot be deployed now by Europe, which does not have troops prepared for such a mission, especially since we are not talking about a mission for a month or a year, but about a long-term operation, which will last at least a decade or maybe more, which represents a huge effort for European states, which will have a direct impact on the entire planning in NATO, because the respective forces have been included as elements in other plans of the military alliance. If we send them to the buffer zone that will be created between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, it will completely change the architecture and readiness of the alliance's forces to respond to threats in a conventional way".

Therefore, the Polish official claims that his country will not send such troops to Ukraine, but will contribute to the "securing of the airspace" of the neighboring state, through air patrol missions from its domestic bases.

• Stocks of weapons and military equipment, essential components for European defense

Europe not only does not have enough soldiers trained for such a mission, but also faces major deficiencies in the production of essential military equipment. Regarding this issue, Colonel General Gabor Borondi, Chief of the Hungarian Defense Staff, told the daily Magyar Nemzet that one of the basic conditions for a strong army is the defense industry.

Gabor Borondi told the quoted source: "Anyone who cannot control and monitor the supply chain is truly a one-legged giant. You can buy a thousand tanks or ten thousand artillery shells from another country, you can get state-of-the-art equipment from abroad, but they are worthless if the supply chain is interrupted at some point."

Dariusz Lukowski admitted to Radio Zet that Poland has failed in its plans to independently produce ammunition, a problem that affects the entire European Union, which demonstrates that, without its own resources, the community bloc remains dependent on external suppliers, which may limit its ability to sustain a long-term mission.

"In many areas we do not have independence. This is a classic situation that we observe in Ukraine and a lesson that must be learned. If we do not have our own production capacities and the necessary stockpiles of weapons, then others will decide on the pace and manner of waging the war. Ammunition is a critical element in ensuring war," General Lukowski said for the quoted source.

He also said that Russia could attack European states at any time and that Poland, in order to deter such an attack, needs another three years to complete its equipment and armament program. Unlike the Polish official, the Chief of the Hungarian Defense Staff stated that the Hungarian army will represent a strong pillar of the EU only in five years.

• What is happening in Bucharest?

The Committee for Defense, Public Order and National Security of the Chamber of Deputies approved and submitted to the plenary yesterday for a vote two essential bills for adapting the legislative architecture to the threats determined by the volatility of the security environment in the vicinity of Romania's borders. According to a press release sent to the Editorial Office by Mihai Weber, president of the aforementioned committee, the new regulatory framework will ensure the Ministry of National Defense the institutional capacity to react promptly and adequately to significant dynamic risks in order to defend the national territory and ensure the protection of citizens, while also functioning as a vital part of the Allied Eastern Flank through a consistent contribution to NATO's collective defense.

The law on the conduct of military missions and operations in peacetime on the national territory regulates the conditions and procedures by which the Romanian armed forces may intervene in situations on the borderline between the creation of conditions that may require the declaration of a state of emergency and the need to take measures to protect the life, health, property, rights and freedoms of Romanian citizens. According to the text of the normative act, the initiation of military missions and operations is approved by the President of Romania upon the proposal of the CSAT, after which he informs the Parliament within 5 days of the decision taken.

At the same time, the transfer of authority for a short time in delimited situations is regulated, both to the Romanian side and to an allied or coalition commander.

"This is a common practice within NATO, which Romania has legislated for missions outside its territory since 2011, but whose geographical limitation requires removal in the sense of expansion on the national territory in the context of repeated incidents in the proximity or intersecting the national airspace. This transfer is regulated by clear mechanisms for limiting the duration and degree of operational authority, without influencing the structure and control over the national defense system and without implying any form of surrender of sovereignty. This procedure strictly aims to optimize interventions in specific situations to counter threats with the aim of securing the territorial integrity of Romania and, implicitly, the allied space", it is specified in the press release signed by Mihai Weber, president of the Committee for Defense, Public Order and National Security of the Chamber of Deputies.

The second normative act approved yesterday is the law for the control of the use of national airspace, which regulates the strengthening of the national capacity for the control and defense of airspace, addressing in an integrated manner the measures to prevent and counter unauthorized use by creating a framework for cooperation and coordination at inter-institutional and allied levels. The law provides for the rules of engagement, the gradualness and proportionality of the mode of action, adapted depending on the level of the threat, taking into account that the measures do not generate other risks, the priority being the protection of people's lives. Also, powers have been regulated for each measure that can be ordered, so that the decision-making process is flexible and adapted to the reaction time to specific risks and threats in airspace, sometimes of the order of minutes.