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The former president of Poland and historical leader of the Solidarity movement, Lech Wałęsa, along with 38 former Polish political prisoners, has expressed their "horror and dismay" at the treatment that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, gave to the Ukrainian leader, Volodimir Zelenski, during their recent meeting at the White House.
In an open letter addressed to Trump, the signatories described as "insulting" the expectation that Ukraine should express gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States in its struggle against the Russian invasion.
In this regard, they emphasized that "the ones we should be grateful to are the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world. They are the ones who have been dying on the front lines".
The letter also highlighted concerns about the atmosphere during the conversation in the Oval Office, which reminded them of the interrogations they endured at the hands of communist security services.
"The prosecutors and judges, acting on behalf of the all-powerful communist political police, explained to us that they held all the power while we had none," they pointed out. "We are surprised that President Volodymyr Zelensky has been treated in the same manner."
Wałęsa, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his fight for workers' rights and universal freedoms, published the letter on his Facebook page, accompanied by a photograph of himself with Trump.
Among the other signatories are prominent figures such as Adam Michnik, Bogdan Lis, Seweryn Blumsztajn, and Władysław Frasyniuk, all of whom were former democracy activists who were imprisoned by the Moscow-backed communist regime in Poland before 1989.
The letter also calls on the United States to respect the commitments made alongside Great Britain in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which established the obligation to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity in exchange for its renunciation of nuclear weapons.
The signatories emphasize that "these guarantees are unconditional; it is never mentioned that such assistance is considered an economic transaction."
This statement comes in the context of escalating tensions between Washington and Kiev.
The White House has demanded that Zelensky demonstrate more openness to possible concessions to end the fighting, but the Ukrainian president has shown resistance to signing an agreement that does not provide lasting guarantees for peace, while insisting on continuing to seek a formula to obtain greater security guarantees from Washington.
Wałęsa's stance and that of the other signatories reflect a deep concern for the situation in Ukraine and a direct critique of the Trump administration's policy toward the country. Their call to recognize and honor the sacrifice of Ukrainian soldiers serves as a reminder of the democratic and freedom values that they themselves defended in their struggle against the communist regime in Poland.
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