Polish President Duda strongly condemns ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia to end war

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday strongly condemned notions that Ukraine should surrender any of its territory to Russia in order to bring a faster end to the war. 

Some conservative American politicians like Sen. J.D. Vance, as well as leadership in Hungary and China, have called for Russian-Ukraine negotiations to bring an end to the two-year war, which Vance claimed in December could include ceding land to the former Soviet powerhouse.

Duda, whose country is the largest bordering Ukraine, said his neighbor should be admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as fast as possible because Russia cannot be allowed to win its war. He also noted that the threat of Russian expansionism under Russian President Vladimir Putin is as strong as it was in Soviet Russia during the Cold War.

“If there is anyone who wants to give to Russia a piece of Ukrainian land and they are not Ukrainian, then let them give a piece of their land to Russia because it is easy to give away a piece of somebody else’s land,” Duda told the Washington Times during the NATO summit. “I would like this war to end as soon as possible. However, it cannot end, it must not end in the victory of Russia because if it happened that way, we will have another war soon because Russia will attack again."

Despite the push for NATO membership, Duda admitted that Ukraine cannot enter the alliance until its war with Russia has ended. But Duda said he was prepared to go further than fellow alliance members in offering Ukraine an invitation to the group. Other countries have offered Ukraine a "bridge" to membership. 

World leaders are currently meeting in Washington, D.C., this week for the 75th anniversary summit of NATO, which is expected to conclude on Thursday.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.