Ukraine is as entitled to peace and security says Polish PM

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has said that Ukraine has the same right to peace and security as all other countries.

Morawiecki made the statement during a panel discussion devoted to the Russia-Ukraine war at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"We cannot accept the idea that some European countries have a greater right to peace and security than others," the prime minister said. "All sovereign states are equal and have an equal right to live in peace, regardless of whether they are stronger or weaker," the prime minister said.

"For several years, Russia has been pursuing three strategic objectives: restoring political control over the post-Soviet states, establishing a security 'buffer zone' in Central Europe and giving the states on NATO's eastern borders second-class status, and reducing the US presence on the European continent," the Prime Minister continued. "Ukraine has the sovereign right to choose its own future as an integral and independent state."

Commenting on Poland's donations of weaponry to Ukraine, which included hundreds of tanks, howitzers, anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition, Morawiecki said his government was thinking of further deliveries.

The Polish prime minister also supported fast-tracking Ukraine's EU accession process saying that extraordinary circumstances called for a different approach from Brussels so that Ukraine is no longer a buffer zone between Russia and the EU.

The "normal route to accession" did not apply considering Kyiv's "extraordinary" position, he argued.

"We need Ukraine as part of the European Union and as part of Nato eventually as well," he said.