Why Poland and Ukraine Have No Choice but Each Other

The Necessity of Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation

According to ХВИЛЯ: Jacek Bartosiak, founder of the Strategy&Future think tank, told the Otwarty channel that Poland and Ukraine are bound by necessity. He argued that their partnership is essential if the region is to avoid domination by Germany or Russia. He also noted that the lands of Poland and Ukraine have historically been a periphery whose fate was shaped in Berlin and Moscow.

Bartosiak revisited the Intermarium concept, first outlined by Polish geographer Eugeniusz Romer between the world wars and later carried forward by Józef Piłsudski and Jerzy Giedroyc. In his reading, the current confrontation over the memory of Volhynia reflects the same logic as the seventeenth-century conflicts, in particular Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising and the 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement, when Cossack colonels swore loyalty to Russia.

'Ukrainians and Poles need each other - so that neither Germans nor Russians rule here, and so that we can escape economic and macroeconomic marginality. We are in Mitteleuropa, while they are in the Soviet or Russian system.' Jacek Bartosiak

Bartosiak cautioned that emotionally charged disputes over Volhynia could be dangerous, especially because geopolitical windows of opportunity are closing unless Poland and Ukraine act together. He warned against repeating the pattern from three and a half centuries ago, which would exhaust both nations instead of allowing them to rise from the periphery as partners. The difficulty of implementing Intermarium, he said, is rooted in such flare-ups of emotion; as Romer observed, history keeps producing outbursts like the one seen today. He added that the Khmelnytsky conflicts started, by the standards of the time, from virtually nothing.

Why Constructive Engagement Matters

The analyst called for constructive cooperation between Kyiv and Warsaw to ensure regional stability and avoid repeating past mistakes. With outside powers like Germany and Russia pressing on the region, the relationship between the two countries is vital to their independence and long-term security. For English-speaking readers, the debate is a reminder that Polish-Ukrainian relations sit at the heart of Europe's eastern security questions.