Poland’s ambassador to the United States said Sunday his nation’s troops are “willing and ready to help” Ukrainians.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Ambassador Marek Magierowski outlined a “preliminary concept” that there be a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine to stop Russian aggression.

“Polish troops …we are willing and ready to help the Ukrainians as much as possible…within the framework of NATO cooperation to defend themselves,” he said.

“We are not talking about a possible escalation and possible engagement of NATO troops in Ukraine,” he insisted.

“We have to be very adamant that if Russia escalates and if this war is protracted in the longer term, we have to be ready to defend NATO territory like President [Joe] Biden stated in his State of the Union address, we're ready to defend every inch of NATO territory, ready to defend every NATO member country.”

“That's why we should be also discussing numerous possibilities of defending ourselves, not only Ukraine,” the diplomat said.

“It's just a preliminary discussion” about a peacekeeping mission, he added.

“We can't take any position. All such decisions, no matter how radical they seem to be now, have to be taken by all NATO members…we should be also discussing numerous possibilities of defending ourselves, not only Ukraine.”

He said the peacekeeping mission idea doesn’t have to be under the guise of NATO.

“It is understandably a preliminary concept which has been put on the table, a proposal which has to be considered by all our NATO allies,” he said.

“In terms of international law, it will be complicated as you probably imagine,” he noted. “But I believe we have to explore every option and every avenue to stop this aggression and unprovoked war as quickly as possible, of course, without engaging Russia in direct military confrontation because this is not the intent.” 

“I think we should talk about all possibilities, in order, also, to send a very clear signal to the Kremlin that NATO is determined to not only help the Ukrainians to defeat the Russian army, the aggressor on their soil, but also to defend our territorial integrity, our sovereignty and our freedoms,” he declared.

“It doesn't need to be a peacekeeping mission under the cover of NATO. NATO does not need to engage in this kind of operation,” he added. “I believe the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels …will be a great opportunity to talk about all these possibilities and options and proposals which are now on the table and to deter Russia, also in the longer term.”

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