Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and Solidarity trade union leader who played a leading role in the fall of communism in his country has put his name to a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump expressing “horror” at his recent spat with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winner on Monday posted the text of the letter, which was signed by 39 Polish former political prisoners, on Facebook.
In an meeting that was broadcast live around the world on Friday, Trump accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, of showing disrespect to his country and of risking World War Three and expressed doubt Washington’s ongoing support for Ukraine in its three-year-long war with Russia.
“We watched your conversation with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy with horror and distaste,” the letter said.
“We consider your expectations regarding showing respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States to Ukraine in its fight with Russia to be offensive,” the letter went on.
“Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world.”
Trump and Vice President JD Vance verbally attacked Zelensky during the meeting, sending relations to an all-time low. The Ukrainian leader was told to leave, a U.S. official said.
The letter signed by Walesa compared the atmosphere during the meeting to that found in “interrogations by the Security Service and… in communist courts”.
It also called on the United States to fulfill the security guarantees given to Ukraine in 1994 after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
“These guarantees are unconditional: there is not a word there about treating such aid as economic exchange,” the letter said.
On Sunday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Saturday that Zelenskiy should get back to negotiations with the United States.
