Poland’s Leader Says Scholz Is Undermining Trump Push to End War

Poland’s head of state said Chancellor Olaf Scholz is trying to cut Donald Trump out of talks over the future of Ukraine in a bid to revive Germany’s own relations with the Kremlin.

Scholz drew criticism from Ukraine and some of its allies with his phone call last week to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The German leader said he aimed to push Putin to negotiate a lasting peace with Ukraine. But Polish President Andrzej Duda said the telephone diplomacy had another purpose.

“I believe it was an attempt to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine before Donald Trump took office,” he said in an interview in Warsaw.

Duda also criticized Scholz’s decision to invite US President Joe Biden for talks on the future of Ukraine with the leaders of France and the UK last month in Berlin. The Polish leader said he was “shocked” that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wasn’t given a seat at the table.

Government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner earlier said that speaking directly to Putin was the right thing to make clear “what both he and Western allies expect.” The German Chancellery declined to respond to Duda’s comments.

The Polish intervention is a sign of how Kyiv’s allies are jockeying for position ahead of a major shakeup that the return of Trump is going to mean.

Scholz is concerned about being pushed into disadvantageous deals with Washington when Trump returns to office and is trying to get ahead of that, Duda said.

“What the Germans are most afraid of is that Donald Trump will force them to buy gas from America,” Duda said.

The Polish president has cultivated a close relationship with Trump since his first term in office. The two discussed the war in Ukraine during a two-and-a-half hour meeting at Trump Tower in New York in April.

During a phone call on Nov. 11, they agreed to meet again before Trump’s inauguration. Duda said he warned the US president-elect in that phone call that Germany and other allies are trying to “tie his hands.”

Polish president’s assertions could reverberate in a delicate diplomatic environment after this month’s reelection of Trump, who has questioned support for Kyiv and signaled he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine by his inauguration on Jan. 20. Ukraine’s allies are now shifting tack as expectations mount that the conflict may be brought to an end sooner.

But unlike other Trump allies in Europe, such as Hungary’s pro-Russian premier, Viktor Orban, Duda — along with the government in Warsaw — has been an unstinting critic of the Kremlin’s war aims and a consistent supporter of weapons deliveries and financial aid to Kyiv.

The renewed focus on a settlement to the conflict shows the sense of urgency among Ukraine’s allies who are trying to get ahead of Trump’s return and the possibility of drastic cuts in US support.

With North Korean troops entering the fray on the Russian side, ambition is building for an end to a conflict that’s laid waste to large swathes of Ukraine, consumed hundreds of billions of dollars in financial aid and foreign weapons and upended geopolitical relationships in Europe and around the world.

Duda dismissed as “laughable” suggestions that Trump would abandon Ukraine, pointing to military aid that his previous administration sent to Kyiv. The Polish leader said Trump didn’t outline his plan for the war, but he quizzed the Pole about his views and the stances of other leaders.

“I’m convinced that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, he is collecting data and information,” Duda said. “At this moment, he is constantly, continuously collecting this information in a very vigilant manner.”

Duda wasn’t alone in criticizing Scholz’s hour-long call with Putin Friday, the first direct contact in almost two years. Ukraine blasted the effort, other European allies took a dim view of the exchange.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday in an interview with rbb24 Inforadio that “diplomacy only works if talking continues even in the most difficult moments. At the same time, it’s important that we speak together as Europeans.”

For his part, Scholz — who is politically hobbled after his government collapsed this month, triggering an early election in February — aired doubts about perceptions of Trump’s Ukraine stance. In an interview with Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Scholz said Trump has a “more nuanced position” than most expect of him in Germany.