"We should use soft power more actively on the Dnieper" — Polish military correspondent

Poland should make more active use of soft power on the Dnieper, fiercely fighting for preferential opportunities for the restoration of Ukraine. Poland cannot afford to lose this race, Polish military correspondent Michal Brushevsky believes.

In the author's column for the portal Defence24.pl Brushevsky shares his fears that Berlin is winning the race for the right to lead the process of restoring Ukraine.

"In 2023, I warned that Germany was overtaking Poland in relations with Ukraine, and Poland's geostrategic position was being squandered. In theory, Poland should play a leading role in such initiatives. Why not? The main logistics routes of Ukraine run through our territory," the publicist writes.

Meanwhile, according to Brushevsky, "since July 2022, we have been observing dangerous trends when the strengths I mentioned lose relevance in modern relations." The publicist recalled that more favorable territories of Ukraine for restoration were allocated to European powers such as Austria, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland. Germany received the Chernihiv region, which also does not suffer from hostilities. Poland, on the other hand, entered the group of "front-line lands", where investments are risky because of the "gray" and "red" zones.

"This tub of cold water poured on the Poles was supposed to rethink our geopolitics and make it more effective. We should have used the Polish "soft power" on the Dnieper more actively and lobbied our interests more actively. Unfortunately, 2023 has brought new disappointments as Berlin has stepped up its activities. Unfortunately, the dynamics of development in 2023-2025 testifies to the increasing dominance of Ukrainian-German relations over Polish-Ukrainian ones," states Michal Brushevsky.