FORMER Polish president and Solidarity trade union leader Lech Walesa signed a letter to United States President Donald Trump expressing "horror" at his argument with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winner posted the text of the letter, which was signed by 39 Polish former political prisoners, on Facebook on Monday.
Walesa is also the leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which helped end Moscow’s grip on Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War.
They said Trump's arguments reminded them of their encounters with bullying Communist-era officials.
“The prosecutors and the judges, working on behalf of the omnipotent Communist party police, also told us that they held all the cards, and we held none.
“We are shocked that you treated Volodymyr Zelensky in the same way,” he said.
In an extraordinary meeting that was broadcast live on Friday, Trump accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for US 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.
“Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defence of the values of the free world,” Walesa said.
The Polish activists also pointed to the long history of the US opposing totalitarian forces in Europe during WWI, WWII, and the Cold War.
“We do not understand how the leader of a country that a symbol of the free world cannot see this,” the group wrote.
"We consider your expectations regarding showing respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the US to Ukraine in its fight with Russia to be offensive," the letter continued.
While many European leaders were dismayed and deeply alarmed by Zelensky’s treatment in the Oval Office, they have avoided criticising Trump in public, fearful of stirring his wrath and deepening his anger at Ukraine.
Walesa’s letter brought Europe’s feelings into the open, particularly its alarm that the US under Trump is veering away from standing up to dictatorial bullies to side with them.
It also called on the US to fulfil 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. – March 5, 2025
