A Donald Trump dressed in a toga and Roman sandals peacefully observes a burning city below a hill. At his feet: a jerrycan of gasoline and a fire extinguisher. The Polish conservative weekly Directly dedicates its front page to the winner of the American presidential election of November 5, based on the outcome of the war in Ukraine. The illustration recalls the fire that ravaged Rome in 64 AD, attributed by some to the Roman Emperor Nero.
The editor-in-chief’s editorial suggests that the future tenant of the White House could wreak similar havoc in Ukraine, with his dialogue with Moscow, while Ukraine has been under Russian fire for more than a thousand days.
If Donald Trump has already promised during his campaign to “settling the war in Ukraine in twenty-four hours”, Wprost bet that this will not be the case, arguing that “Trump and his people will face the Kremlin wall as quickly as Joe Biden, who hoped that the unblocking [du gazoduc] Nord Stream 2 would discourage Putin from invading Ukraine”.
Ceding territory will not bring peace
The newspaper warns that ceding Donbass or Crimea, regions occupied by the Russian army for one and annexed to Russia for the other, will not resolve the problem. “Russia is not benefiting from the peace that the new administration claims to bring to the Kremlin,” continues the editor-in-chief, arguing that “Putin’s goal is not to absorb several Ukrainian border regions.” What the Russian president wants, above all, is “vassalisation” from his neighbor, and preferably “to destruction”. A prosperous and democratic Ukraine freed from the yoke of the Kremlin would be an intolerable counter-example to the Putinian narrative.
So, “the sooner Americans hit the wall” from the Kremlin on Ukraine, announcement Directly, the better. The journalist thus calls on the Polish administration to take its responsibilities. THE “completely idiotic taunts” of Prime Minister Donald Tusk which may have taken place against Trump in the past “must stop here and now”, writes the publication. Poland also requires credible diplomacy and Directly to condemn the Polish-Polish war between “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidential Palace”.
The center-right government is indeed experiencing a stormy cohabitation with President Andrzej Duda, close to PiS (Law and Justice), who readily displays his closeness to Donald Trump. In place until August 2025, this lawyer has refused for months to appoint dozens of ambassadors approached by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter are still sent abroad by Warsaw as simple business managers. Given the circumstances, and “despite all the reservations towards the current Polish president, we have no one better in this position than Andrzej Duda”, ends up concluding the weekly.
