In Poland, 39 former political prisoners call on Trump to be grateful to Ukrainians for their struggle, to comply with Budapest Memo
Polish President (1990-1995) Lech Wałęsa, along with 38 other Polish political prisoners, addressed an appeal to US President Donald Trump, in which they compared the atmosphere of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday to interrogations of the communist government, and called on the US to adhere to the guarantees provided to Ukraine by the Budapest Memorandum.
"We call on the United States to adhere to the guarantees it and the United Kingdom provided in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which explicitly provides for a commitment to protect the inviolability of Ukraine's borders in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear resources. These guarantees are unconditional: there is not a word about such assistance being considered an economic exchange," reads the joint statement, which Wałęsa posted on Facebook on Monday.
The signatories of the appeal note that they watched the broadcast of the conversation between Zelenskyy and Trump "with horror and disgust." "The atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation was reminiscent of the one we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and from the halls of communist courts. Prosecutors and judges, on behalf of the all-powerful communist police, also explained to us that they had all the cards, and we had none. They demanded that we cease our activities, citing the fact that thousands of innocent people were suffering because of us ... We are shocked that you treated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in this way," the statement says.
The document notes that military and financial material assistance "cannot be equivalent to the blood shed in the name of independence and freedom of Ukraine, Europe and the entire free world," and that gratitude is deserved by those who sacrifice their blood and freedom.
The document was signed by Walesa and other former political prisoners, including activists of the underground Solidarity movement and other opposition in Poland, publishers and publicists, a total of 39 people.