Jo Harper
15 February 2026•Update: 15 February 2026
WARSAW
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a rebuttal Saturday to claims that Europe is in decline and NATO is obsolete, calling it “nonsense” at a ceremony honoring Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference.
Tusk said Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression was a defining moral test for Europe and the West. “I hear opinions that Europe is on the brink of collapse, that NATO is obsolete, that the time has come for a transactional policy and a concert of great powers,” said Tusk. “Nonsense. Those who think that everything can be bought should also remember that, according to this philosophy, anyone can be sold.”
His remarks come amid heightened tensions within the transatlantic alliance over Ukraine, NATO burden-sharing and future relations with Moscow, as well as a renewed debate about whether Europe must assume greater responsibility for its own security.
Speaking as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the Ewald von Kleist Prize on behalf of Ukraine, Tusk stressed that no formal recognition could adequately reflect the scale of Ukraine’s sacrifice.
“There is no prize good enough. Even the Nobel Prize would not be sufficient,” he said, adding that the rest of Europe should be grateful to Ukraine.
Tusk rejected arguments that the war in Ukraine was avoidable or the result of Western provocation. “The war was not a choice of Ukraine or of President Zelenskyy,” he said. “Their choice was to defend themselves.”
He also warned against a vision of international politics based on deals between great powers at the expense of smaller states. That worldview, he argued, undermines the moral foundations of the postwar Western order.
“A united West is the best political creation in human history,” Tusk said, cautioning that its values are under threat not only from external aggression but also from internal complacency and cynicism.
Tusk framed Ukraine’s resistance as a reminder of principles the West has taken for granted. “You know how terrifying a reality without principles is,” he said. “This is a Ukrainian lesson for all of us. Long live a free and independent Ukraine.”
“Long live a strong and united Europe,” he added.
