Ukraine's vital ally - Why Poland matters in the Russian-Ukrainian war

It's easy to think of the invasion of Ukraine through the lens of cold-war American-Russian competition, with Washington having been one of the first to announce substantial weapon shipments and financial support for Ukraine from February onward.
But support for Ukraine has been a pan-European affair, with some nations going to extraordinary lengths when contrasted with their limited resources. The Baltic and many Eastern European nations stand out in this regard for the willingness they've shown to dig deep into their military reserves in order to get hardware into Ukrainian hands.
In terms of volumes for key heavy equipment like tanks and mobile rocket and artillery systems, Poland stands out as a critical source. Warsaw has emerged as one of Ukraine's staunchest advocates, shipping tanks by the hundred, and allowing its territory to be converted into a logistical hub while opening its doors to Ukrainians by the millions.
In this video I try to give historical context to Poland's decision to throw its resources behind Ukraine and put focus on what this nation, with an economy nominally the size of New Jersey's (ppp-aside), has done to keep the Ukrainian army fighting while preserving the lives and wellbeing of millions of Ukrainian civilians.
Patreon:
/ perunau
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - For our freedom and yours: Poland and the Ukraine War
00:00:57 - Ukraine's most important allies (by GDP figures)
00:01:33 - America has limits
00:02:48 - What am I covering?
00:03:29 - History of Polish-Russian relations
00:04:18 - History: Destruction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
00:08:03 - History: Partition and occupation
00:10:26 - History: “The Red Flag” - the Polish-Soviet war (1918)
00:11:27 - History: “The Red Flag” - Soviets are back (1939)
00:13:42 - Poland's strategic situation
00:15:10 - The Stakes for Poland
00:17:06 - Poland's Support: Civilians
00:19:43 - Poland's Support: Arms
00:21:02 - Poland's Support: Armoured Vehicles
00:22:28 - Poland's Support: Small Arms
00:24:44 - Poland's Support: Artillery & Ordnance
00:27:03 - Poland's Support: Scale
00:28:28 - Poland's Support: Logistics
00:32:36 - Russian retribution
00:34:07 - Why does all this matter
00:37:12 - What could have been
00:39:39 - Poland's Military transformation
00:43:03 - Poland's post-war possibilities
00:46:43 - Summary
00:48:13 - Channel update

[@PerunAU]

Key caveat on this one has to be regarding weapon deliveries and refugee statistics: RE: weapons deliveries - stats are point in time and confirmed/announced deliveries only. This means that those nations passing equipment secretly, or who have announced after I prepared this video are not given appropriate credit (and there are a few of those.) RE: refugees - As of May it's been fairly common for more Ukrainians to return to Ukraine from Poland than to leave. While millions of Ukrainians have left at one point or another, counting how many remain in Poland is a week to week affair. The key point remains that the country welcomed them by the millions, and that the border remains open. I should also note for those that aren't aware, the colours on the Polandball in the thumbnail are a long running internet meme. it's not an error (well, it is, but that's the meme) As an aside, I know this topic may not be a front-of-the news one, but it was one I thought deserved some coverage before we get back into economics or myth busting. Thanks for watching.

[@leosharman8630]

Why are you using the Indonesian flag??

[@entropyachieved750]

As always quite impressed with this series. As a fellow ausie i feel that as a nation we like to keep it real (be truthful)when reporting and this is the most fair and balanced when comes to reporting on Ukraine

[@MarkGoding]

Thanks mate. Your series has been a beacon of facts and truths.

[@danielthunder9876]

Soon as I see your videos pop up I am there! Thanks for doing such a great job!

[@de_g0od]

KZbin is broken again, i was super confused because this comment was shown under an EVE online video... Bruh

[@suifufunun]

as a Pole I'm willing to say that there is nothing that can unify countries like Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Baltic States and Finland more than historically justified deep uninamous hatred for Russia and its excesses.

[@Ben-ry1py]

Hopefully this time the bully gets kicked in the dirt so hard he never dares to try this garbage again! Support to Ukraine and Poland from the US! I think Russia is going to lose all momentum in the next month or two as they continue to take heavy losses and their soldiers become even less willing and capable of fighting in this horrible war🙏

[@Sasha-pq5wj]

@@Ben-ry1py they already lost their momentum, as the “largest ruzzian offensive” stalled

[@carlcramer9269]

Swedish here - I kind of agree.

[@Silver_Prussian]

The pathetic russian hate wet deam fan club gathering here apperantly

[@Ben-ry1py]

@@Sasha-pq5wj true, I'm going to give it a few days to a week to see if it'll stick. I certainly hope so!

[@KiithNaabal]

I am German and lived for years in Poland. They always warned me about Russian ambitions and while I understood this from an historical perspective, I thought they were a bit paranoid. Turns out, they were not.

[@benjamindover7399]

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you.

[@toja123]

Also, turns out Germany ambitions are common with Russian ambitions.

[@thomaskaplan4898]

Yeah Poland has nothing to fear from Germany lol

[@simontmn]

@@thomaskaplan4898 I think the Germans may have learned their lesson at this point.

[@dag1704]

@@simontmn believe me, we have :D

[@andriifedoryshyn9987]

I am an Ukrainian living in Berlin, but went a few times to Poland in the last months to bring some supplies for the army. Poles, you are just amazing. I was literally crying as I saw all what you have done for our refugees with ny own eyes, I am not even talking about military support. Dziękuję bardzo, jeszcze Polska nie zginęła!

[@AB-li1eo]

Slava Ukraini!

[@wolffweber7019]

Za wolność waszą i naszą!

[@LMB222]

Poland is shitting its pants. If Ukraine loses, muscovites will be at their door - again.

[@soltys1986]

Nie ma za co.

[@max-pax]

Szcze ne zmerla Ukraina! Putin хуйло́!

[@knpark2025]

As a result, when the Poles came from the other side of the world and asked how many weapons we could sell, South Koreans briefly looked into some history books and answered "yes" to our closest kin we never knew existed.

[@Mastah2006]

Seoul - Warsaw close cooperation would be the best thing that happened to us since we joined forces with Lithuania and basically beat the sht out of teuthons. And trust me, we never leave our friends in need.

[@LMB222]

It's a great deal for Korea as well - there will be a weapons factory not located anywhere near China (or Japan, should things go badly). Sure it takes a month to ship around the world, but it's still better than having China block your factories.

[@adammarkiewicz3375]

Samsung is doing well in Poland. Has number of factories, development centres and the products are appreciated by the Polish customers.

[@Adrian-zn1eu]

Brother, we gonna do great things together, great things.

[@bittermochi259]

😘😘😘💞💞

[@ferdomravec1520]

Question: You are a polish soldier, from west you are attacked by a German tank, and from the east by Russian artillery. Which way you should shoot back first ? Answer: First towards the German tank. Why? Because "work before pleasure". - old polish joke with 1939 background

[@wildgophers91]

Hahaha this is great, thanks

[@user-sm5sj6mg2t]

"Bić Moskali nie praca, ale przyjemność"

[@guamsoncruz5107]

GOATED joke

[@chrisburns4297]

That was the first joke I heard when I came to Poland. They hate Russians over here, with a passion.

[@ironmantooltime]

🙌😂

[@maxkronader5225]

"And are you really a Polish government if you deny yourself the chance to punch Russia in the teeth?" Classic!😁

[@LMB222]

I think it was the Polish military. I wholeheartedly doubt the current government could do anything.

[@Silver_Prussian]

And brkae your arm in the proces like they did by trying to occupy moscow.

[@kazekamiha]

Don't do that! You can get an infection if you cut your hand on their teeth! Use a bat instead.

[@sir0herrbatka]

More like: "Are you even a Pole if you don't want to kick Moscow ass?"

[@supreme3376]

Much more kick ito Balls

[@mikeceebo8611]

My Polish grandfather's favourite Russki joke: Yuri Gagarin has just flown into space. A kid runs into the living room, where his dad is reading the newspaper. - Daddy, daddy, the Russians have just gone into space! - What, all of them?! - Noo, just the one... - Aaahhhh then stop pestering me with this crap.

[@LMB222]

Russia is like that cousin whom you see rarely and don't really want to see, bit every time you see him, he trashes your house, emptied the fridge - and the spirits cabinet - and when you're about to kick him out, he starts guilt tripping you about being family, and how much he has done for you (which is nothing - he always empties the fridge nothing else).

[@cherylk.2474]

Hi! American of Polish descent here, and I remember a variation of this joke. I was a kid at the time and didn't understand it then. The way I remember is was the same beginning, but when the Father asks: "All of them?" and the child responds, "No, just one" the Father responds "Well, when they all go, we will have a big party!"

[@bittermochi259]

😂

[@yomanyo327]

"And then it got worse, that's just how slavs do things." I have never been more offended by something I 100% agree with.

[@PerunAU]

Look, its just how our history goes.

[@piotra71]

A lot of the problems for the whole of Eastern Europe started with the age of discovery when economic power shifted from euroasian land mass to the sea based rim nations. All the countries of Eastern Europe lost their independence with Poland being last. Poland was unable to take part in colonial expension and all the trade and capital advantages that came with it.

[@ricardokowalski1579]

It is equivalent to the british "laughs in empire". Cheers and respect 🎩

[@MT-eb2dx]

I was contemplating the same not long ago.. it's so funny and tragic at the same time.

[@peterc.1419]

To be fair, Austro-Hungarians, Swedes and Germans are not Slavs. ;)

[@hgman3920]

A Polish friend told my dad the following joke years ago: A Pole finds a magic lamp containing a djinn who grants him three wishes. With all three wishes, the Pole wishes that a Mongol Horde would sack Warsaw. After all the wishes have been granted, the perplexed djinn asks the Pole why he would wish such devastation on his own country. The Pole replies that, while it's true his country has suffered, thrice at the hands of the Mongols, they've ridden across and sacked Russia six times in the process.

[@edwardvijga]

Russia is doing the sacking now, пидор

[@Bzykumi]

well, tbh the true joke is that he wished to Chinese to come to attack Poland :)

[@thc6664]

usa\uk will fight to the last polakk like they fight to last ukrainen now you are just cannon fodder against russia.

[@panakap2186]

28 y.o and never heard that joke. But i know this proverb: Mówił kiedyś stary góral Będzie polska aż po Ural Za Uralem będą Chiny Was nie będzie skurwysyny "The old highlander once said will be Poland as far as the Urals Beyond the Urals will be China You will be no more motherfuckers"

[@manofsesame3024]

I only learned the stories about magic lamp and the djinn from playing The Witcher 3 lol

[@thegrimcritic5494]

Can we all seriously just take a moment to recognize and admire the Polish for their consistent resilience and determination to never let their nation fade from history? Most nations and their peoples would easily be broken down and demoralized by simply the first time their country officially collapsed. Poland “collapsed” approximately three to four times and their willpower is stronger than ever. Hats off to you, Poland. You have my undying respect.

[@tatradak]

Having lived in Poland and seen the reality, before 2004 EU succession nothing much changed since communism but since the EU rules and funding has poured into Poland there has been a dramatic change for the best and now seems irreversible.

[@Ussurin]

@@tatradak meanwhile in reality the greatest economical growth was in the period between passing into law Wilczek's Law and ~2000 when Polish law began to look alike to what EU demands...

[@kamilosxd678]

Poland is a dictionary definition of "country too angry to die"

[@filipkogut8533]

@@tatradak the funding consists of a small percentage of the GDP at any given time. Poland has been developing consistently since 1990, it's just that it started from the level of Ukraine in 1989. Yes, the net intake from the EU obviously helped, but it's not like with the money you're deemed to succeed.

[@plasticjock1090]

@@filipkogut8533 Without the EU billions of. EURO's funding Polands infrastructure it would still take 3 to 4 hours to drive from The Polish Czech Border to Bialsko then to Zywiec up to 2008.. Now this highway is completed after huge amount of corruption again sorted out by the EU rules.. My point is Poland needed help and guidance without it corruption would still be rampant as it is in Bulgaria..

[@a.h.1358]

“Legend has it, that if you were to ever enter Lenin’s tomb at night, and shout ‘Pilsudski’ three times, you would hear ‘Nyet!’ three times as well, followed by muffled crying.”

[@supreme3376]

I Hope Stalin cry out too

[@piotrmalewski8178]

One of bigger lies in Polish history that Piłsudski was any particular enemy of Lenin. Piłsudski worked for Lenin in youth, was strongly influenced by him and even helped him during the war with the White Army. Things only changed later on, but before that Piłsudski would reject a wondeful offer from Skoda, who wanted to sell Poland arms and help build factories for a very low price. Piłsudski said; 'A state doesn't need a big army, but lots of police to rule it!'. Because of that Polish soldiers went on Polish-Bolshevik war in Austrian funeral-uniforms. They looked like normal ones but in fact it was something similar to paper. They were falling apart in contact with humidity.

[@grzegorzbrzeszcz6698]

@@piotrmalewski8178 Oh man... change your doctor for another one, the one you have is cheating you...

[@arturd4658]

@@piotrmalewski8178 what a bullcrap

[@piotrmalewski8178]

@@arturd4658 Talking about yourself huh

[@michaziomek]

I think there is also a morale component missing. When Poland threw the border open and announced that Ukrainian refugees get free healthcare and support, a lot of soldiers could focus on defending their country knowing their families are safe and cared for. Some men would not fight knowing their families are not in a safe place.

[@mattblom3990]

Great point!

[@minkernator]

Excellent point!

[@sheldoniusRex]

This is a *huge* factor. t. Former Israeli Foreign Legion service member. 1st Armored Division, 16th Engineers OIF1, 2003-2004.

[@apathyzen9730]

Sadly, there's another take on this. As Alexander Lebed (Soviet/Russian army general, died in 2002) once said: The greatest warriors are made of men, who didn't think of war leaving their homes in the morning, but those who'd seen bomb craters when returning home, where their wives and children are evaporized. Now these are not men anymore, these are wolves, which would kill as long as they live. And long they would live, because they don't value their lives - they don't need life anymore, they need nothing. They have only revenge, and that's why they will live long. He also has another great quote: I've seen wars. Any war is at first a dead end, at last a catasprophy. Each war, even the hundred year one, ends with a peace treaty. So why kill, make widows, orphans, and disabled, destroy the legacy of generations, for peace negotiations at the end? Maybe skip the uncivilized part altogether?

[@kalkol21]

@@apathyzen9730Typical soviet way of thinking. according the first Lebed quote You could understand why so many Soviet civilian died during ww2...

[@kielcemen]

As a Pole I must say this. When it comes to out of proportion help there are also Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Same story, just smaller countries.

[@josephstalin7353]

Poland should unironically start an alliance with the Baltics (Trans Slavic -baltic alliance, Northern co-operation committee, ect). It would be so entertaining to see Putin shit his pants at the sight of an alliance of all the states whom have suffered due to Russian expansionism. Heck, let Finland or Some sort of Caucasian Exiled government join in on the fun if they want to. Russia won't dare another invasion then.

[@PerunAU]

Yep, Poland just had more to give in total.

[@HedgehogZone]

Everything the east europeans had send, was paid by germany! Ukrainian are just ungrateful people! Always were always will be.

[@FlyshBungo2]

As a Lithuanian thanks for pointing this out

[@lookingforsomething]

@@FlyshBungo2 Great thanks to Lithuania for sticking up to both Russia and China. Much respect from Finland.

[@justask8894]

Our brothers Poles are great. We Lithuanians are smaller nation, but we also helping Ukraine as strong as we can. My dream is that Poland and Lithuania create some kind of Commonwealth again.

[@Ussurin]

In Poland we try to establish deeper cooperation since the 30s. But if it is to be meaningfull, some good gesture from Lithuania, like stopage of forced lithuanization of Polish surnames or closing of polish language schools in Polish dominant regions around Vilnus, would be required. Trust me, it's not problematic, we have similar autonomy for Kashubs in Polands and they are as loyalnto the country as any other Pole.

[@justask8894]

@@Ussurin About Polish surnames. If I am not wrong this problem is already solved in this spring 2022. And about schools, not only polish schools are closed, this is not about Polish or Lithuanian. Problem is that there are shortage of teachers and small schools must be closed, in order to improve quality of education. Problem is not about nationality, problem is about education system.

[@Ussurin]

@@justask8894 Glad to hear surname issue was resolved, but the prpblem with Polish school also affects private schools as lithuanian goverment refuses to grant them teaching licenses oftentimes. Sometimes arguing teaching in Polish goes against the national education program, sometimes finding other excuse. We don't want you to neccessarily pay for education of Poles (tho in majority Polish regions and towns it probably should work that way, similarly as publoc schools Kashubia work), but allowance of existance of those schools and approval of Polish-language exams alongside Lithuanian ones would be enough.

[@justask8894]

@@Ussurin I agree with you. But I see problem with representatives of polish people in Lithuania. They are obsolete Russian Z suporting, they do nothing for polish manority in Lithuania. Only spread hatrres. Just Google Valdemar Tomoševsky. And his best friend Zbignev Jedzinski. Few months ago Zbigniev suggested to Poland leave Nato and join Russia.

[@justask8894]

@@Ussurin the wast majority of Lithuania population have nothing, but respect to polish nationality people in Lithuania. Ask any of Poles living in Lithuania.

[@michaelst543]

I my, Ukraińcy, jesteśmy wdzięczny za pomoc, która nadaje nam polski naród. Nigdy tego nie zapomnimy!

[@ww5302]

I rosyjska tv powiedziała polakom že za to że pomagamy ukraińcom zapłacimy wysoką

[@GTAVictor9128]

Слава Україні 🟦🟨

[@vitaliitomas8121]

@@ww5302 російське тв може піти в одному відомому напрямку

[@ww5302]

@@vitaliitomas8121 Slava for friendship Ukraine and Poland. Poland and Polish people are making huge sacrifice to make sure Ukraine victory ✌️

[@vitaliitomas8121]

@@ww5302 Slava, brother. It will not be in vain, they will fall. We lost too many to let them live

[@Ork20111]

I have been to the polish-Ukrainian border as Rzeszow in the first week of the war. We drove there with a small convoy from Germany. Dropping supplies and taking 103 refugees back. What the polish people set up there in less than a week was astonishing. We dropped our supplies at a local gym that was used as a logistic hub. There were about 30 local volunteers and a platoon polish army. It was Saturday evening 19:00 and these guys were organized and motivated as someone can be. It took them about 2 minutes to unload a van and before we actually left the compound they started packing our stuff into a truck to distribute it. We then drove on to a former warehouse that was changed to a refugee camp. Totally improvised. They just took out the lowest level of the high-bay warehouse and the red cross and the army set up beds, sanitary installations, a big kitchen and so on. By that time there was already a bus line established transporting people to the west. Every five or six minutes one bus left with 50 to 60 people. On that day 125.000 refugees crossed the border. Later we drove to the train station in Rzeszow where we found something very similar just on a smaller scale. When I was waiting in the parking lot there, the truck with our supplies arrived from the gym. I like to point out I saw civil volunteers from Chechnya, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Swiss, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Spain and even Portuguese (it’s a 3300km drive from there). But what the polish people built up in a few days outweighed all of them. They were handling the issue with big tools when the German government hadn’t even accomplished a statement. It is not that I disliked poles before this experience. I just didn’t know much of them. Now I have a great deal of respect for Poland and its people. They have lost nothing of the fighting spirit and the moral resolve they so gallantly showed during WW2. I can totally confirm your statement that the poles wanted to go to Moskov. I spoke to a couple of polish tankers that were deployed at the border. And these guys wanted to cross the border there and then and beat the Russians all the way back to Rostov. Preferable with the rest of NATO. The tune was fight Russia together now, don’t let them pick us apart piece by piece.

[@sigmasix3719]

Russia is winning 🥇👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦☠️☠️☠️🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦💩💩💩🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🤡🤡🤡🤡🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🥩🥩🥩👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻😀😃😄😁😆😅😅😅😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

[@dreaminginvalhalla1914]

@@sigmasix3719 Tell that to the mothers of the cremated russian soldiers

[@LMB222]

I've lived 14 years in Germany at the moment, and while I like it (obviously), I completely fail to pass the message to German colleagues that *some* things have to be done *much* faster than it is customary in Germany. Replying after two business days to a request for an offer? A big no. Delivering trams in 18 months? Sorry, another company will do that faster. And so on.

[@louisarius9672]

@@sigmasix3719 Russia can't even stop the mystery fires sabotaging military installations in their own country. Pathetic

[@ipodman1910]

@@sigmasix3719 yep - Russia is winning - a ticket to hell. :)

[@matthewtymczyszyn8948]

I like what you said about not cutting the lecture short for sake of popularity. If you appeal to the widest possible audience you can’t do your job anymore.

[@TikiTDO]

Honestly, I wish more people would realize this. Sure, you might not be able to get multiple millions of subscribers doing long-form lectures, but you can obviously get 100k+, and there's a good chance that this 100k+ will be a bit above the average when it comes to discussion and points being made. If you're not trying to become a KZbin millionaire. That said, I do wish he would turn on KZbin Membership. I'm not a huge fan of Patreon, but sending a fiver to someone that makes quality content through KZbin once a month would probably not break the budget for many people on herew.

[@ctographerm3285]

@@TikiTDO more options and convenient vectors for financial support are always good.

[@erimart63]

I prefer long slow-burn lectures, go well with a bottle of wine and makes a nice cerebral swirl. Above average lectures for an above average audience.

[@rumpstatefiasco]

Well said!

[@advicepirate8673]

Algorithms favor shorter videos. Viewers who want to be properly informed do not. Every short cut carries with it a hidden cost. The journey and destination are not separate things, they are opposite ends of one stick. To embrace this, appreciate the journey, and keep our integrity along the way, is to always end up at the proper satisfying destination. We struggle with this because it's not where we thought that we wanted to end up. If ever we feel that we haven't gone anywhere upon reaching our destination, it's because we haven't.

[@lewgalicyjski2976]

“There can be no independent Poland without an independent Ukraine” - Józef Piłsudski

[@shivanshna7618]

But didn't he partitioned Ukraine later with Soviet though or was it different polish leader?

[@osmanerdogdu7868]

@@shivanshna7618 Poland took some areas that were also claimed by Ukraine, like Lviv/Lwow area, during their peace with the Soviets but they didnt "partition" Ukraine with Soviets.

[@imperialisticvonhabsburg3149]

@@shivanshna7618 The alternative was giving it all up to the Soviets.

[@shivanshna7618]

@@osmanerdogdu7868 ok I may have to read on it I only know little bit this era I suppose

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

Poland was like one of the major controllers of ukraine historically

[@MC-hc9qx]

It is probably one of the worst insults to throw at the feet of a Polish person to threaten them with denazification when they fought like Lions against the Soviets and the Nazis and had to pay with the lives of a third of their entire population.

[@baneofbanes]

Especially when the Soviets invaded Poland alongside the Nazis.

[@mariostepien4526]

i to jest klucz naszej nienawiści zgodzę się z tobą w 100%

[@mariahanczewska8109]

Not "one of the worst"- IT IS THE WORST

[@TheOmegaXicor]

I think it has to be up there with asking Poland to partition a neighbour, after what they suffered, that is a terrible insult

[@Mastah2006]

I know A LOT of Poles and one thing I will say, is that they do not care a rats a$$ about someone calling them something ;)

[@kostakatsoulis2922]

I'm just a dumb American, don't even have any Ukrainian or Polish blood in me, but what I do have is a love is military history, and for whatever reason I always loved researching the Polish contribution in WW2. They were basically surrounded by enemies and fucked over by literally everyone, including their allies, and yet they still fought tooth and nail until their country was lost(also id like to point out: France fell to the Germans in 2 weeks. Poland held out for 4), and even then didn't stop fighting, from the destroyer ORP Poirun, to the Polish 303 squadron in the battle of Britain and beyond, to the Polish home army's final epic stand in the Warsaw Uprising, they fought whenever and however they could, fueled by little more than hatred and spite, and what did they get for it after the war? They got fucked over by their allies again, only this time it came in the form of another foreign occupation. Also just to point out, it was a team of Polish mathematicians who first cracked enigma and even built several replica enigma machines before they willingly shared all of this with Britain and France, hoping to buy some leverage in a bid not to get fucked over, although that obviously didn't pan out. Mad respect for them, and its nice to finally see them get a way to deliver at least some form of payback to the Russians

[@diomuda7903]

Are you Greek? Because your surname is pretty Greek for me.

[@kostakatsoulis2922]

@@diomuda7903 yep I'm Greek, but I was the first to be born in America, my dad was born and grew up in Montreal, Canada, and my Grandfather was the one who immigrated from Greece. The family is still very much Greek in nature, so basically I'm an American with proud Greek heritage.

[@maggies9597]

A lot of people are not aware of that. Thank you for this comment.

[@kristofburek264]

Hi, Kosta, I am of Polish descent myself, and certainly I have heard many relatives of my parents' generation express the view that Churchill and Roosevelt were in some measure responsible for Poland's post WWii plight or, as you put it "fucked over" by them. But things are not as simple as that surely! At Yalta Roosevelt was already quite ill, being but 9 weeks away from his death, and I've read he found it difficult to deal with Stalin. The Soviet Union was in a strong bargaining position, being much closer to Berlin than any "Western" soldiers at the time. Churchill got Stalin to promise that free elections would be held in Poland, and it was Stalin who broke that promise. The Soviets also stood by deliberately and cynically whilst the Warsaw uprising was put down by the Germans. Yes Polish mathematicians had been studying and had broken a commercial version of the German Enigma machine between the wars. I think they also succeeded in cracking an early military version. they revealed this to the British shortly before hostilities started, and this undoubtedly made a difference. But don't forget also that it was the UK who declared war on Hitler immediately he invaded Poland. Basically the UK was the first country who brought the general trend of Hitler appeasement to an end. At the war's end in Europe there was simply no way that anyone would have the stomach to continue fighting once Germany surrendered unconditionally! So whilst we can all agree that Poland was "fucked over", I contend that betrayal was not by its actual friends, UK, Canada or USA.

[@ilikeonions1051]

@@kristofburek264 It does not change the fact that by the definition, UK and French did in fact betrayed Poland due to "sitting war" incident (Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals). They were supposed to help, they did not. No matter if you think it was reasonable or not, it was betrayal, thats it. You can believe that they are friends and they just had good intentions for their people or whatever, but what matters are facts, not feelings sadly. But i also understand that you are just of polish descent, so your opinion is strongly depended on your place of birth, as of us all anyway. About the Iron curtain though, i have to agree. They've done what they could, even if it of course failed anyway. To this, i definitely wouldn't say that other allies like USA and Canada had much to do with any betrayal aimed to Poland, especially the latter as they did not had much to do with us anyway. Cheers to you mate.

[@UserName-eb9oy]

" -and then it got worse" is a *great* way to describe Polish history

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Things went pretty well from the late 14th century until 1621. The Vasa family civil war aka the near century of warfare between Sweden and Poland, which began in 1626 was bad. And then things got worse. I like to joke that the countries that won the war s between the Swedish Empire and the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth were Russia and Prussia.

[@Haamre]

Russia (earyly in the conflict): *Threatens to cut gas delivery* Poland: *steels up and increases military support* Russia (later): *Threatens to "de-nazify" Poland, OR ELSE (it will get worse)* Poland: "So...business as usual, then?"

[@veramae4098]

There's an award winning children's book "The Good Master", which always makes me sad. It's a family book about a farm before WW I in Hungary. A life which has completely vanished.

[@kalashnikovdevil]

@@Haamre I'd fucking love to see them try.

[@Haamre]

@@veramae4098 I feel sorry for Hungary - though, being part of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, you ended up on the loosing side in WW1. :-( Overall, I guess one could say that Europe commited "mass suicide" when choosing to go to war, on that fateful summer of 1914...

[@ahtoshkaa]

The immeasurable amount of support that Poland has shown my country after Russia invaded us has sparked a desire in me to learn their language. I already know English, Ukrainian, and Russian. It would be nice to also learn the language of our close ally - Poland.

[@crhu319]

Yup do it, you will be a Polish citizen soon.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@crhu319 Hi Putzi. Keep making your troll quotas so you’re not sent to Ukraine.

[@swissarmyknight4306]

@@crhu319 Catch a Javelin Ivan.

[@wkwojti]

Thank you for those words 🇵🇱🤝🇺🇦

[@waldemarwojnicki6781]

It's not "that difficult", and is - beautyful.. Like sound of leafs on the Old Oak - in sunny October day.. 😊 Powodzenia ! (Don't listen to this Greater-Poland idiots - they're stupid and marginal.. btw.. grave of Mikołaj Gomółka is in Bar, in the ruins of the church.. it's so neglected.. 😪).. 🙂👍

[@diomuda7903]

As a Czech, I have my feeling that the Russian invasion has truly united us against Putin and his imperialism. Not just Poland but also the rest of former Warsaw Pact.

[@tihs87]

yeah after six months it seems like Putin shot himself in the foot really. Shame that few hundred thousand people had to die first.

[@konraddakowicz4077]

And Let us keep it this way.

[@damian_ski]

Let's meet and have a pint in Královec!

[@stanisawdebski8897]

Actually the Czech survide that in 1968 hmm :( we had i it We sorry en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia

[@damian_ski]

@@stanisawdebski8897 it wasn't really Polish army. This soviet controlled military attacked people in Poland few years later. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_Poland?wprov=sfla1

[@ScienceChap]

I served with Polish troops when I was in the British Army on NATO exercise in Germany. They are great people. Committed troops and determined and brave soldiers. I was always struck by their professionalism and desire to catch up with NATO. That's nearly 20 years ago. God help anyone who decides to face them down now.

[@xianseah4847]

Which God? Are you assuming your presumed enemies automatically have a different God?

[@ScienceChap]

@@xianseah4847 Yes I am. So bore off.

[@augustuswade9781]

Poland won't say something like "onward to Moscow" Poland is gonna vouch for "onward to Vladivostok"

[@dariuszrutkowski420]

Poland: We should have a border with Japan and the US. Onward to Sachalin and the Bering sea.

[@TheGrace020]

Lets border Japan Polska Gurom

[@kimweaver1252]

I read about General George Patton, after helping to thrash the Nazis, asking why he wasn't being allowed to push on to Moscow. General George Marshall, his boss, told him to cool it, the Russians were our allies. Patton essentially spat "bullshit!". I thought sounded like a nutty warmonger. Not anymore.

[@TheGrace020]

@@kimweaver1252 Patton was always correct on that, he said many good things.

[@meilinchan7314]

@@TheGrace020 : YEs BUT.......that moment could come soon and when Poland rises, it's going to destabilise the EU and NATO :(

[@PobortzaPl]

Being Polish I have to say this: Please do video about efforts of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in this conflict. IIRC in proportion to country's GDP nobody gave as much as Estonia. As for Lithuania - they also watch Russian TV propagandists and know that among goals for extended "special military operation" lies land corridor from Russia to Kaliningrad. From Finland to Romania and across Black Sea to Georgia (with exception of Hungary) people and their governments went "oh shit, here we go again". In Kazakhstan quite a few people also went into this line of thinking. For some reasons (cough, last few hundreds years of history, cough) countries that had bordered or been part of Russian Empire and Soviet Russia are very suspicious of any efforts by Russia to expand its "sphere of influence".

[@karolkwiecjasz9356]

This is espeically funny/idiotic scince hungarians had been kicked by the soviets pretty badly during their uprising.

[@ImGoingSSJ97]

@@karolkwiecjasz9356 AFAIK hungarians are not represented well and orban is not actually what majority of them think. even their own president condemned russian invasion and orban for being russian puppet

[@natalias50]

As a Polish person you are right. It’s our joint effort in Eastern Europe and honestly I don’t know what the author means by saying Germany helps Ukraine- they do as little as they can.

[@sinapis]

Good point! The Baltic States are precious

[@ddandymann]

@@karolkwiecjasz9356 Well Hungary is the problem child of Europe so it's not that surprising really. They essentially have the national equivalent of Napoleon syndrome.

[@marksw5499]

As a Pole, I'm proud of my country's display of humanity and aid to our fellow Ukrainian brothers. I wish Ukrainians well and hope that they will be victorious in pushing the Russian monster out of their beautiful country. This is a turning point in history, despite some of our past historical grievances, I think it's clear by now who is Ukraine's true Slavic brother.

[@farzana6676]

Poland is allied with Hungary. We need to kick Hungary out of EU and NATO. If Poland stands in the way, then you can go too.

[@SP_3333]

👍

[@legsundeer6108]

humanity and aid? No, just geopolitical issues and old bills with Russia

[@mapas4412]

@@legsundeer6108 Yes, especially those who took families from Ukraine under their private roof, those must think geopolitical. Those who organized help on the border like private free transportation or bakeries, restaurants, shops etc. sending massive loads of food to border, those think in terms of geopolitics as well. Those who send clothing or baby carts or dipers - pure geopolitical interest.

[@legsundeer6108]

@@mapas4412 why don't Poland helping all the world, all the Africa then? Geopolitical interest.

[@1985belmondo]

I'm a son of a career Army Officer within the Polish Army. Now, retired, He's a Master Logistician. Days for days, He's called late hours into his unit , 50 km away, even at weekends... Since the beginning of the war He's gone sad and silent, but the amount of work He does, I believe, He does alot of work to keep the russians out of the polish border and help bring freedom to Ukraine.

[@builderbob3149]

Respect to your father!

[@alexanders.380]

we appreciate every minute he's spent helping. Dziękuję!

[@christiangriffith7233]

Thank you to your father and your family for all the thankless support you give to the people who need it from the Russian oppressors

[@TheZzaxs]

I'm Ukrainian and I'm forever grateful to the Polish people. Although we have complicated history behind us, I must note, many modern cultural and historical conflicts between our countries were fabricated by russians. Thank you, Poland. And thank you Perun for covering it since I feel like people in english-speaking circles really don't talk about it enough.

[@crhu319]

You can't seriously blame the Polish slaughter of Ukranians in 1918-20 and Bandera slaughter of Poles 1943-45 on Russia.

[@charlethemagne5466]

@@crhu319 "Polish slaughter of Ukrainians" wow what a mischaracterisation of the entire conflict

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@charlethemagne5466 He’s an officer in the GRU, the St. Petersburg Keyboard brigade.

[@TheZzaxs]

@@crhu319 nope, that part is mostly "complicated history" i wrote about. But spreading misinformation about those events, demonising specific personalities instead if really figuring out what went down - that's Russia for you.

[@blokkadeleider]

@@TheZzaxs Let's call it a tumultuous history. Now is not the time to discuss it. Now is the time to close the ranks. Firmly! You know. I'm Dutch (with a Polish grandma) and we Dutch have had our own dealings with the neighbours. Those being Germany and England. An elderly Englishman once explained to me (his father fell in WWII): Germany, England and the Netherlands are brothers. Sometimes brothers fight. We may lose teeth, black eyes. Broken bone here and there. But in the end we are brothers and stick together in need. Between Ukraine and Poland it is probably much the same.

[@Bantek91]

As a Pole it's pretty cool to hear some positive stuff about my country in anglospheric part of the internet. Keep up the good work Perun.

[@Luke-mr4ew]

Can't speak for the rest of the anglosphere, but the UK has a very positive opinion of Poland. Probably cemented during WWII with invasion of Poland being the call to war, and the legendary Polish pilots flying in the RAF.

[@MT-eb2dx]

As much as there is always something to complain about Poland. I have to say, it doesn't get unnoticed how much you help Ukraine. Thanks from Germany..

[@TransportSupremo]

Poles time and time again have been extremely based

[@johnappleby405]

Niech Zyje Polska! Great country Great people

[@Confucius_Says...]

Positive Stuff? Poland and the Polish people have been ABSOLUTE LEGENDS in this conflict...

[@righteousone8454]

I am born in Ukraine, living in USA for over 23 years. I am also part Polish, German, and Baltic. I am so highly impressed with Poland for its' heart and love for Ukraine. They helped a lot. God bless Poland. God Bless USA and the rest of NATO for providing military support.

[@furiousscotsman2916]

As A Scotsman i know many polish ppl and even i felt a little pride at Polands stand fkn well done Poland .

[@stanisawdebski8897]

As the Polish why Scotitsh Not do that

[@Methalec1985]

Ukraine has already titled Poland as a "Good friend and Ally" in all this. Without Poland, all that other support wouldn't have been able to reach Ukraine either. When I served in the military, I worked a lot with Polish servicemen. The Poles are a great people and a great friend to have. We should never ever forget that.

[@j.granger1120]

Poland's military is now more relevant than any other army to NATO.

[@Korvmannen]

"Good friend and ally" feels like the understatement of the war! Also I suspect that the Polish wouldn't budge on this question, possibly leading to very deep conflicts if the rest of the West wouldn't go along with it. Poland is probably the country I'd be the most concerned about not pissing off, or make feel they have been betrayed support in their resistance to Russification. :p

[@apathyzen9730]

Oleksiy Arestovych, who is a Ukrainian presidential advisor, said that the myth of modern Polish-Ukrainian rivalry is dead. Which is a good thing for both Ukraine and Poland.

[@charlethemagne5466]

@@Korvmannen we've been stabbed in the back and left out to dry by the west once before when they were afraid to get their hands dirty, so us poles wouldn't take such a betrayal lightly.

[@MusicalMemeology]

Absolutely. I would be ready to support Poland. Germany not so much with their horrendously slow and half assed response. The only thing saving Germany is the massive US military based there.

[@KonradJNowak]

Man, I watch a lot of content about Poland from foreigners' perspective (a lot of Poles obsessively do) and I have never been that impressed about accuracy, the way facts were summarized and about thoughtful conclusions. No strange errors, mispronunciations, not a single oversimplification! Respect!

[@tdb7992]

I think Australians, in general, have a strong fascination with Europe as most of us have only been here for a few generations and still carry a strong European identity. The Australian identity is very young and was largely created in European battles we fought in. Whilst we like being our own people, we are still very European and don't want to forget our heritage. Even though we are right beside Asia, we want to be part of the European world.

[@farzana6676]

Poland is allied with the trojan horse inside NATO called Hungary. If Poland stands in the way when the time comes to kick Hungary out of EU & NATO, then Poland can go as well.

[@Jimmy-nl9if]

Full agreement. I was sure that the movie was made by a Pole in English. It's funny, but this Australian gamer has more knowledge about geopolitics than Polish guru in this subject - Bartosiak.

[@dinf8940]

indeed, the first 35 minutes or so were surprisingly good, obvious bias in highlighting certain angles on events, but relatively accurate nonetheless. then the copes and delusions start

[@ewelina379]

100% agree with you.

[@anatolearakelian8454]

I’m a Ukrainian- American, currently in Ukraine, and I’m so grateful to Poland. I’ve spent 3 months in Warsaw a few years ago and loved it. Can’t wait for Ukraine to win so I can travel to Poland again and thank someone I swear

[@Anna_Fortunka]

I hope you're well. and I hope your revisit n Poland is soon :) I want to go to Ukraine once the war is over.

[@mpz8539]

As a Pole I have to admit that I really dont understand how you manage to picture History of Poland so brilliantly. Many Poles would have a hard time doing this in so detailed manner. Kudos BRO. And I want to mention something really strongly. Our commitment in this war in eyes of Poles is simple but I want to Emphasize that we Poles see and look with great admiration on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia and Slovakia. In our eyes we really admire your nations willingness to help Ukrainians and we really appreciate this greatly. If someone is showing our Polish effort so greatly me as a Pole and most of us are in a position that should point to your countries - you showed that despite differences in EU we can rely on your countires and Im frkin sure that in time of something similar that is Ukraine experiencing now I can asure you Polish people will trigger NATO article 5 sooner then you will invoke it. We will be there on your border defending and dying if needed to help your elders, kids, wifes and cities. We are Cental Europeans , this are our lands and we understand each other in terms of Russian aggresion and occupancy - never again. Cheers

[@LMB222]

Learning Polish history outside of Poland will give a person much better perspective than learning Polish history in Poland.

[@timiengalychev862]

The tales about how Poles helped our nation in the time of greatest peril will be forever inscribed into our national memory, being passed from generation to generation. I hope that finally all the old wounds regarding our bitter rivalries in the past will now be healed.

[@sebaestschn1]

It has also very much to do with how Poland treated Ukraine in the Commonwealth. It's time to clear the history and put the swamp city into it's original borders ;).

[@wkwojti]

I would like to thank you for your courage and strength to fight 🇵🇱🤝🇺🇦

[@ChillDudelD]

@@sebaestschn1 Excuse me? Majority of nobles and magnates in eastern Poland (Ukraine) were Ruthenian. So who treated whom? The point of Poland's and Commonwealth's system was local self rule through its semi-democratic parliaments (sejmiki).

[@timiengalychev862]

@@piotrd.4850 Why would we?

[@sebaestschn1]

@@ChillDudelD yeah, but Ruthenians were not treated equal in contrast to Polish and Lithuanian nobles. The was the plan to change it to a 3-nation state, but it was too late... that's the error; it should have been done earlier.

[@ihormay3418]

I am ukranian, living in Poland right now. I will never forget what poland brothers did to help us. Never. I even stopped mking fun of their language:))) jokes aside, they are the best. Hope you are not disspointed ukranians by so gopnics they alao flee here:(

[@ineffige]

no worries bro. After this criminal aggression by russia ends (hopefully with complete defeat of orcs), we should stick together with Ukraine, Baltic states and free Belarus - we would be good counterweight to traitorous germans and french

[@damianziokowski8421]

I am glad you like it here!

[@jakubkful]

Don't worry about making fun of our language :) We make fun of the Czech language. This is how it is in the Slavic world. However, when trouble starts, jokes disappear and mutual support appears. And we also have our own gopnics here so we know how to deal with them :)

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@jakubkful Tell me how well Google translate handled this phrase: Potrząsam pięścią i mówię: „Wy dzieci, zejdźcie z mojego trawnika!” Or this one? Ścisz ten hałas albo zadzwonię na policję! 😄 Getting old and annoyed at the youth seems to be a universal part of the human condition. I myself become very annoyed at the practice of putting huge subwoofers in cars to “share” the noise they call music with the entire neighborhood. 😆

[@jakubkful]

@@MarcosElMalo2 Surprisingly well translated, but too polite in my opinion. That first one should be: "Won z mojego trawnika gówniarze!" "Get off my lawn shitheads". Google will help you with the pronunciation :) The second one is polite, but strong enough.

[@chriscw3487]

im failing to find the word here ...as a history nerd i have always know Poland's history of ....fighting/resistance /desire for freedom ...not just for themselves but for others too (see father of the US calvary/Poles in the RAF etc) ...but in this ....Poland has crowned itself in glory ...sheltering the weak,arming the fighters ...feeding the guns and the fighters ....it does not take a mastermind to know Poland is in this till the finish ...Slava Ukraini ... and Poland ...as some one with a keen knowledge of history ....thank you

[@Autechltd]

I hope everyone finds a friend as good as Poland in their lifetime

[@Mastah2006]

A little polish trivia - in Poland ‘friend’ has a much deeper meaning. Polish ‘friend’ is someone You call to help hiding the body and at the same time the one who will draw a dick on your forhead. And You will laugh. Polish ‘friend’ is a top tier badge.

[@6Oko6Demona6]

Russia was hoping for Poland to come at their side? Are you kidding? As a Polishman I can assure you we can form an alliance with Russia as soon as they wave Polish flag from Kremlin and start speaking Polish. Not a second earlier. Edit: and obviously when they convert to Catholicism.

[@jgfjfgjfhjf]

They were hoping that even Ukraine would be on their side, so it wasn't that much of a stretch in comparison

[@termitreter6545]

Probably because the PIS government was so busy attacking other EU countries, especially Germany, in a pretty hypocritical fashion, not to mention helping to set up Orban, the biggest pain in the ass both in the EU and its support towards Ukraine. Polish people have been positive towards the EU on paper, but their actual government has been a main factor in sabotaging its unity. Its obviously shortsighted, but Im not surprised that Putin thought he could use Poland, purely looking at those actions.

[@crovear1]

You probably forgot how the Wolyn issue was souring our relationship. And PIS is the exact political camp that does like to play the historical card and is not known to forget/forgive.

[@ArchOfficial]

Russia probably still unironically expects Finland to join Russia as soon as they invade as well. They've always been kind of delusional and have some kind of idea that just because their working class is oppressed, everyone else's is as well.

[@6Oko6Demona6]

@@crovear1 no I didn't. I know that even this year Lviv city council has voted current year to be an UPAs year but... It's completely unimportant in comparison. You're comparing Ukrainians lack of will to repent their criminals with Russian threat of invasion and genocide. This video also didn't discuss the issue of Russian propaganda in Poland. This is complicated issue but sadly lots of idiots are falling for it like idiots. Useful idiots. And many of them on the far right and of course Wołyń card is played a lot by them. In short: grow a brain and repel Russian propaganda while you still can.

[@SafetyBriefer]

A Polish farmer in the east of the country was working his land when he found a lamp. He polished it and a genie popped out. ‘I’ll give you one wish!’ the genie said. The Pole thought for a moment and said, I want to Mongols to come and burn down my village.’ ‘What?’ The genie couldn’t believe his ears. ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yes, send them.’ Rules were rules and a few months later the Mongol horde arrives and burn down the village and kill the farmer’s family and friends. ‘Why?’ The genie asked the Pole. ‘You’ve lost everything.’ ‘Yes, but the Mongols had to cross all of Russia to get here. Twice!’ Tells you a lot about how Poland thinks of Russia.

[@ingolifs]

I was looking in the comments to see if this joke had been made. In the version of the joke I saw, the genie granted 3 wishes, and the man asked for the same thing each time.

[@donnievance1942]

@@ingolifs That's hysterical.

[@keeperofthefate]

@@ingolifs Don't forget, he asked to burn Warsaw. It's an inside joke, but majority of Poland don't like Warsaw. It's a blend of polish eneminity towards any authorithies (like goverment from capitol) and the fact, that most warsawers, after crossing city limits turns into unbearable douchebags. FYI, we do not hate russians, just russian state. Russians by themselves are amicable people, with great sense of humor. Great friends, if you ask me. The problem is, that their state if not kicked in the nuts like every 5-10 years, tries to conquer all slavic nations (and few non slavic nations too).

[@LMB222]

The general consensus in Polish political culture is - unbelievably for both the right and left - that Russia should simply fuck off. And, of course, continue buying Polish food.

[@L3szy]

As a Pole, I have the feeling that it is not really about hatred of Russia, but of Russian imperialism. There is Starynkiewicza Square in Warsaw. It was a Russian, a representative of the tsar during the Polish partitions. However, he was very honest and knowledgeable. He cared for Warsaw as if he were his own. Thousands of Poles attended his funeral. Because he deserved. Putin's policy reminds us of Hitler's policy. We remember what the concessions were caused when it came to the Czech Republic. We don't feel like repeating.

[@briang530]

I remember working with the Polish army back in 2015. Even then they were incredibly serious about the Russian threat, at a time when most western countries really weren't. It was also evident that they'd been very seriously preparing for this threat for several years and actively building capacities at a time when Germany, the UK, the US etc. were reducing theirs. The poles were essentially preparing for a fight with minimal western support. Fast forward to 2019-2020 and me doing training and doctrine development support work with the Armed forces of Ukraine, and Poland is right there providing technical support, whilst Brits and Canadians were focusing on training support, and the US mostly funded the whole thing and provided key logistical and strategic development support. Noticably sarce? The rest of Europe. Slava Ukraini, and Long Live Poland.

[@malysiurek997]

good point. We said this in 2008. Georgia. Nobody listen do us.

[@hungrymusicwolf]

Honestly the more I'm looking at Europe and even my own country the Netherlands the more pissed I get. How absolutely lazy and selfish we have all gotten. Time to wake up some of that good old spirit of fighting for what's right comfort be damned.

[@OTOss8]

I had the privilege of working with a crew of Polish guys when I was younger. Adam, Mirek, Bogdan, Dawid just to name a few and they were some of my favourite co-workers of all time. Lovely people, kind of heart, generous of spirit, unflaggingly honourable and intensely funny. They were absolute madmen and they made a difficult job so much easier and for that they have my eternal admiration.

[@joeelliott2157]

What job did you all work at?

[@Mastah2006]

I worked with some Poles at a shipyard and can 100% confirm, that they: - work until the work is done, - drink until the alcohol is out, - eat until the food is out, - prank each other until the ambulance arrives, - return borrowed tools. The Poles and the Finns are two of my favourite nations in the world.

[@user-lg4mm3mf8i]

Czechia and Slovakia have also provided a lot of support compared to their size, including heavy weapons like T-72's, Dana and Zuzana SPH's, BMP's, MLRS, S-300 etc.

[@malysiurek997]

We know. Or - we all should know that. All countries, that had common border with russia (almost all...) help as much, as they can - Czechia, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. All russians should be gratefull to Mr. Oppenheimer. Without him, on the Kremlin would be Ukrainian flag. Or other.

[@yanisbaker881]

And Germany cannot even send old marders to Greece so Greece can send all their BMP’s

[@ImGoingSSJ97]

out of curiosity, i havent looked up on CZ support specifically but what have they given to UA as of now? i kept confusing slovakia with CZ

[@user-lg4mm3mf8i]

@@ImGoingSSJ97 A sizeable number of T-72 tanks and BMP-1's, D-20 howitzers, Dana and Gvozdika SP artillery, Grad and RM-70 MRLS, Strela-10 SAM's. The Czech CZ Bren 2 rifles were also delivered. A lot of those are used by the Foreign Volunteer Legion.

[@LMB222]

And cz/sk know how to keep quiet about it. There's no point being cocky.

[@jpoeng]

Ukrainians absolutely will remember this. This kind of support, despite some historical wounds, is just powerful beyond words.

[@OakInch]

True. The future Russians that live in the space called Ukraine will remember how Poland helped prolong the war against the non-democratic puppet government in Kiev.

[@wildbikerbill6530]

This kind of support is precisely what heals old historical wounds.

[@jjsmthr]

Yeah. That's the difference between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainians fight for future, meanwhile ruZZians fight for the past. Every russian narrative or argument in this war involves some historical bullshit which happened one-two-three centuries ago no-one cares about anymore, but they still choose to use some random historical periods to paint "real" borders in 21st century during their warmongering invasions of numerous neighboring countries. Poland and Ukraine are building a true friendship between their nations. It truly is great to witness.

[@yuriydee]

Poland has become a new brotherly nation for us Ukrainians. Yes we share a lot of history with Russia but the future for us is without Russia and with Poland and the West.

[@jpoeng]

@@yuriydee My family is from Galicia, so everything I heard growing up was much more positive about Poles than Russians anyway. Then my Dad married a Polish-American girl, so… 🤷‍♂️ I couldn’t be more proud of “my people” on both sides here.

[@Arturino_Burachelini]

We're gonna be crying long rivers of tears and hugging them long and tightly in gratitude for Polish assistance. Even I was multiple times overwhelmed with emotion while watching the video and shed tears... In recent developments Poland is said to have sent 232 PT-91's

[@jannegrey593]

We didn't sent 232 PT-91's. We've sent 30 for now. PT-91 is problematic for Poland to send quickly, because it is still in active service. And even if it isn't in the most combat capable units, it is invaluable for training. We've said that we will send PT-91 - all of them if possible, when we will at least partially shift to what backfill has been sent in. So this might take a few months (units that were sent now, were in reserve - that being said they are still far better than original T-72's. ERAWA ERA armor is far superior to Kontakt-1 for example. Pretty much everything in them is upgraded at least a tier from T-72's - which makes them far better tanks, but still very easy to train on from T-72's). We're waiting on used M1A1 and new K2's to fill that gap. Because without both T-72's and PT-91's we will have 1/3rd of tank forces pre-invasion. Also only the fact that some PT-91's were sent to Ukraine was confirmed yesterday. Number was not disclosed, but most people agree that it had to be 30+ tanks. Since Ukrainian Battalion would be 31 strong. And Polish forces in Latvia use some PT-91's. They would need to switch - and this, especially in peace time takes a lot of time. Though I hope they will arrive in Ukraine as fast as possible. 3 German Gepard's were also finally confirmed to be delivered by Germany.

[@MKanakaredes]

As a Pole, I've never seen someone describing what Poland is so accurately. Not even Poles.

[@TheBlobik]

As a Pole I have a feeling that we are generally terrible at describing ourselves. And especially we tend to paint ourselves in a worse way than we truly are.

[@mariahanczewska8109]

@@TheBlobik YES

[@alanmichael5619]

One crucial point not really covered here is the use of Polish land for the training of Ukrainian troops. The ability to cycle units into a neighbouring country to train on new equipment before it arrives in the theatre is such a hugely important component.

[@belledetector]

It was mentioned and the strategic importance was underscored..

[@Elenrai]

@TacticalMoonstone "the funny button" I want a polandball comic strip of russia and ukraine fighting, a russian missile landing next to polandball, and then add the funny button xD

[@aussiejezza]

@TacticalMoonstone "One move against Poland and I’ll destroy us all, have you got that? NATO bang bang, Russia BOOM!"

[@johnrichmond.4783]

' The ability to cycle units ..... is such a hugely important component.' Whoopee do! Is it really? Who told you that? When did 'cycling units' ever happen before if it's so important? The Russians now have S400s on Snake Island. Maybe these US proxies can 'cycle' some of the troops who 'fought to the death' on Snake Island before they all surrendered with zero casualties and er...stop the S400s??? Before the 'corrupt Russian Army' sells them all for a boot full of Vodka??? Ha ha ha....Loving it!! Reality is my friend and so facts do not sting :)

[@CultOfAlan]

@@johnrichmond.4783 cycling of units from the front line has always happened in modern warfare. Being able to rest troops and replacing them with rested troops has always been valuable. The difference is that Ukraine can cycle some units to a non-combat area where Russia can't target which ukraine would not be able to do otherwise. So, yes, it's extremely valuable to the Ukrainian war effort.

[@carter342000]

It’s one of those funny historical ironies that the USSR made all of the Warsaw Pact countries heavily armed bulwarks against invasion, and now 30 years after the USSR collapsed, the same states are still heavily armed bulwarks, who are using their old weapons to defeat their former masters.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

It’s like the criminal who is shocked that people in the neighborhood are putting locks on their doors.

[@ReeceCMF]

I know, people talk about the western weapons systems and how they were designed and brought into service specifically to defend against a Russian/Soviet invasion. Yet you have Soviet weapons that were clearly intended for the opposite scenario, now also being sent to defeat Russian forces instead.

[@toja123]

It is only partly truth. Poland, as the example, decided that could not afford to maintain so much equipment and majority of it was sold/scrapped. Some of them were also part of some anti-war agreements at the beginning of 90s. Most of those weapons anyway would be trash nowadays. For instance, Poland had 3500 tanks in late 80s (yes, 3 ths 5 hundreds), but 2500 of them were old T55, majority of which were scrapped. There was also the perception (I think also driven by Russian propaganda) that there will never be larger war in Europe anymore, so essentially it was the trend to limit military as the whole, at least till 2014. And even if someone took this risk into account, hardly anyone believed that Poland military could matter against Russia, so there was very little interest in what actually happens with military. As example, Perun mentioned Komar light anti-tank weapon, which Poland indeed had in the number of 100 ths. But Poland has given up them all, for whatever stupid reason. Still, likely a few tens of thousands ended in Ukraine, fortunatelly. Currently, seeing what is happening in Ukraine, there is more belief that Poland can actually stand against Russia so w/o doubt Polish military will grow. For example, Perun mentioned that Poland requested for 500 HIMARS launchers. Th

[@daddust]

Made heavily armed to invade Western Europe. Not for defense.

[@scottyd3138]

Poland has been absolutely amazing. I get that stopping Russia helps them too but Poland has gone so far above and beyond. God bless Poland! Slava ukraini!

[@remmingtoncruzoe8282]

We've had our differences in the past (Poles and Ukrainians), but I am very proud to say, that what is currently happening between our nations, is a solid ground for starting a beautiful international friendship, for the years to come. I would certainly like that. Slava Ukraini! PS: Kudos to Perun on a very meticulous material.

[@LMB222]

Everyone in Europe has had "differences". Yes, sometimes deadly.

[@LMB222]

We Europeans have almost ALL been assholes to one another in the past. Note the proverb "Poles and Magyars are brothers" (because Poland and Hungary have never had a war) is celebrated as an exception! The best way is to forget what we had done to each other and move on.

[@bahiraluna]

Thank you, Poland and polish people, for coming so actively to support us, help, provide! We are very grateful! Дякуємо, браття і сестри 💖💖💖

[@FifingFossil]

Always. Cлава Україна

[@plrc4593]

Greetings from Poland

[@paulmeier3462]

Videos like this are what makes KZbin a legitimate platform. You're doing a great job!

[@tristankrulewitch-browne860]

I whole heartedly agree. This is amazing content

[@PerunAU]

I'm still surprised these took off the way they did, but I'm thankful for it.

[@little5bee]

As a Polish American, I'm proud, but not surprised. My extended family and all of the other Polish American extended families I know are extremely kind, generous and hard-working. During the 80's, my mother sent monthly boxes of food, coffee and other items that my relatives in Eastern Poland had difficulty buying there. Hope to visit Poland again soon. The last time I was there, it was part of the Soviet bloc and not a very happy place to visit.

[@Diaco1200]

Definitely you should, know your roots. ☺

[@konraddakowicz4077]

Hope to see you soon :)

[@maciejszajnicki4479]

Hi there, sry for digging this up, I just discovered this channel. I strongly encourage you to go visit the Poland of today, you are going to be blown away: the energy, the vitality, the lot.

[@Kaiserland111]

I'm an incredibly patriotic American, but I agree with you, Perun, that it seems the world media has really focused on the arms being sent to Ukraine from the US. Yes, we're giving a good amount of high quality equipment to Ukraine, but Poland and other nations are delivering huge quantities of equipment, especially considering the size of their economies. The focus should not be on who is providing the most or best support to Ukraine, but on how all free nations need to work together to support Ukraine, and what each nation's contribution can be. I'm so happy to have Poland as an ally to the US and to Ukraine, and seeing their hatred over the historical wrongs of Russia, I'm not surprised! What a fantastic video, Perun! Your uploads are a highlight of my week.

[@abhilashyadav2274]

That's why Poland was added in NATO. It's this kind of NATO expansion that made Putin/ler that's destroying Ukraine. Sad to see all destruction.

[@sochaoracza1506]

I agreed with you. It is not a competition about who helps Ukraine more, but how can we help and how fest. All the help counts.

[@gregortidholm]

The mix of interesting fact, well made analysis and humour with seriousness is absolutely amazing. Keep up the great work! This channel is a true gem on KZbin!

[@cropathfinder]

a lot are fabricated and detached from reality

[@tirushone6446]

there is nothing quite like it

[@_Twink]

He has tapped into something special for sure.

[@gregortidholm]

@@tirushone6446 Totally agree 🙂

[@gregortidholm]

@@_Twink he definitely has found interesting subjects to address

[@MrBoobiemilk]

"500 HIMAR systems, and if they had them yesterday they would get lost near the Ukrainian boarder." 😂

[@andrewharrison8436]

Yes - it was a great comment. Is it true? Let's deliver 500 HIMAR systems and find out.

[@Silver_Prussian]

How much of the equipment sent actualy get to the ukrainins 1/3 sold on the black marcket, 1/3 captured by the russians, 1/3 used by ukraine.

[@maksstachowiak4575]

@@andrewharrison8436 unfortunately the americans only built 440 himars to date ;) speaks to the scale of poland's order

[@Zarastro54]

Ignore the Russian troll. He gets payed by the reply.

[@RobinTheBot]

@@Silver_Prussian Russia would have to win something to capture that many, though maybe if they hang around gas stations with a coat hangar they'll get lucky. Be gone, bot. Your state is a failure and we will work together to make you back into the North Korea you have chosen to be.

[@eviloverlordsean]

I grew up with Polish immigrants living next door, and the horrifying stories they told of Cossacks rampaging through their villages has stuck with me forever. If this is an opportunity for Poland to show both its people's generosity of spirit and its government's ability to occupy a central role within the EU, so be it.

[@Malgosia44]

In our greatly convoluted history the Cossacks fought both against us and on our side.

[@mariahanczewska8109]

Maybe you have UPA and this on mind? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volhynian_Bloody_Sunday

[@wiziek]

@@mariahanczewska8109 might you have misses russians cooperating with hilter?

[@sajuente8235]

Some former high USA Army general once said: Special 10.000 NATO troops on easter border of NATO are there not to prevent Russia invading Poland but to prevent Poles invading Russia :)

[@pawemaliszewski9324]

Nah, we would never ... well , maybe after some crazy weekend when still being drunk. :D

[@robertciesluk7207]

Oh yes, we would. And how!

[@LMB222]

​@@robertciesluk7207 no, we wouldn't. We want to make money off Russia's inability to produce light industry goods and foods.

[@shiniesftw1652]

Papa peruns power points. Remaining truthful and objective in a world of disinformation

[@BlightCosmos]

True Though let me play devil's advocate and say that we also cannot take Perun's words as truth, keep skeptical of everything until we can for sure say what truth is

[@PerunAU]

@@BlightCosmos I don't take my word as truth. I'm working with very imperfect information. All I can promise is I'll do my best

[@alvaro701]

@@PerunAU And we respect you for it. Thanks for the effort you put on making this videos.

[@als1023]

@@PerunAU Absolutely, it's the listener's mind and need for certainty that transforms your research and opinions into their perception of ' fact '. Very well done video of Poland, excellent research on an extremely complex subject. I was in Poland during Soviet times, one has to experience life under the KGB to start to understand the difficult life Poles , and others, endured. It also gives great insight into why ruzzia is the way it is today. There are lots of sit rep sites doing excellent work, I'd stay away from that day to week stuff. Your talents are much better served in the longer run videos that require focus, attention and detail. Don't chase viewers that can't sit for more than 12-15 minutes. They don't offer much back, other than strident opinions and polarized politics. On the other hand , if you want highly informed opinion and facts, keep on keepin' on. This video already has evidence of both types of comment. Thanks for posting !! Respect. Slava Ukraine !!

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@BlightCosmos Sure, but let me explain why work like Perun’s is important (and I think you understand, but it’s worth putting out). Most of us in Perun’s audience are citizens in democracies. This will be almost impossible for Authoritarians to understand, but we are the ultimate decision makers of our societies. We delegate day to day decision making to others, but we choose those people. Because of this, public opinion is important. Perun’s work is important because facts can shape public opinion. Understanding the facts and analyzing them helps us form those opinions. We give some contingent trust to Perun because (using myself as an example), he has no particular interest in U.S. domestic politics. If the facts reflect badly on U.S. foreign policy, he will still lay them before us. He has no stake if Joe Biden is President, or if Biden is replaced with a Republican. If Perun has a bias, it is pro-democracy, and his work strengthens democracy is a small but vital way, clarifying that which is muddy (and intentionally muddied). He pulls out the facts as near as we can determine them, from a mass of confusion. He separates truth from lies (within the limitations of publicly available information, of course). If Perun has a bias, it is against Authoritarian regimes. So of course he will have a bias against against Putin and his ilk. But so long as his chief weapons are the facts, he will have my trust and support.

[@meanmanturbo]

I think Estonia has given the most aid as a precentage of gdp. Sadly their gdp is so small that it remains unsung.

[@lookingforsomething]

To my knowledge it's Lithuania by far. Anyhow, Baltic states have been exemplary in this, and Lithuania even going above and beyond fighting the belligerent titans of the world stage (China and Russia). Not to at all take away from how amazing Estonia has been in all of this. Estonians are doing great in general. Especially free public transport in Tallinn is beautiful.

[@herptek]

Small nations have little impact in absolute terms unless their contribution is completely disproportionate.

[@ihuvvvcuncur2617]

Ukrainians were practicing FH70 artillery in Estonia and i was lucky enough to see the shots land.

[@LMB222]

Also, Moldova has accepted more refugees per capita than Poland did. But the way international relations work, Poland is in focus. Compare this: most people think Germany pays the most to EU budget. Truth is, the Dutch pay more per Capita.

[@daniellarson3068]

All these ex Warsaw pact countries except maybe Hungary (& Belarus) really seem to support getting Russia out of Ukraine. I even think the support by Belarus seems reluctantly coerced by the growling Russian Bear next door.

[@pierredecine1936]

Just found your video's a week ago. Watched maybe 7 - My mother's Father came to U.S.A. around 1920 - from Poland. Your knowledge & understanding of all of this is amazing to me. (I'm 65) USAF Veteran

[@andrewmetz9267]

WOW! Another great one. As a historian, I'm very glad that you briefly covered and explained the Polish/Lithuanian State, and what happened to it. It helps kickstart (along w/ religion) why the Poles have always been anti- Russia.

[@rofltehcat]

The Latvian journalist who does the "The Eastern Border" podcast said on a recent episode that he likes your videos and would love to have you on his podcast, but doesn't know how to get in contact with you. That podcast episode would really be a great thing.

[@mormatus]

Wow, I'd listen to it as well. How to get your comment to the top?

[@bljakub9956]

Prayer for sercred algorithm.

[@trrebi981]

Bump for visibility.

[@forlornfoe352]

This sounds like an excellent opportunity.

[@marekk.3322]

Tactical comment to improve visibility of this one.

[@przemekkobel4874]

Maybe someone mentioned it already - we have Ukrainian workers for quite a few years now, and we've seen how quickly they evolved from a soviet-style mentality (do as little as possible for any given salary) into a well respected and demanded workforce. We went the same route not that many years ago. The Russians couldn't allow another Poland-like country to exist close to their borders, and we disagreed.

[@farzana6676]

Yet Poland protects your trojan horse brothers, Hungary in the EU.

[@LMB222]

I've seen Ukrainians themselves commenting that you can't idle in Poland and expect to be paid. Kudos for adjusting to a quite different situation.

[@Spacey_key]

tbh, if there weren't for the Ukrainians workers this country would have fallen long ago

[@Spacey_key]

@Miguel Certo yeah please check what they did betwen 1939 and 1940

[@przemekkobel4874]

@Miguel Certo ...and while you're checking late 30s, you may also take a look at 1932-33 in Russian-ruled Ukraine.

[@PyMep]

We will never forget contribution and assistance by Polish state AND the Poles to Ukraine. I myself promise to do my best to support Polish people when the need arises

[@abcdmefgh2843]

We are waiting for your victory! Geetings and love from Kraków, may your family be safe🇵🇱🤝🇺🇦

[@VasylDiakonov]

Thank you, the People of Poland, for your support and help to our refugees! Hope Russia will stop being an imperia after this war and transform into several more adequate and less aggressive states.

[@LMB222]

Russia won't acting like an empire until we do with Russia as US did with Japan: Rewrite their constitution.

[@Bluehawk2008]

38:20 I can imagine a Russian diplomat saying to his Polish counterpart: "Don't you want to get revenge for the Volhynia-Galicia genocide of 43-45?" And the Polish diplomat says "Not as much as we'd like to take revenge on you."

[@Cephalos666]

My grandma was 5 when she and her mother escaped Volhynia Massacres in '43. She had always resented people of Ukraine as she recalled nightmares she had due to this. I was sort of raised on this family history and this always have been somewhere in back of my head when interacting with Ukrainians. When Russia attacked Ukraine, my grandmother made instant 180 and when I've asked her "what about '43" she exclaimed "that has happened and cannot be undone, but now we must help victims and help Ukraine" So fuck russian diplomat and fuck anyone who goes "What about Volhyn" - we cannot unmake past but we can make future

[@TomaszJegorow]

One word: Katyń

[@florianbraun1492]

There's an old joke a heard a while back. Someone asks a Pole: "You have a German and a Russian and a gun, who do you shoot first?" The Pole replies, "Well the German of course, business before pleasure."

[@bobstone0]

In 2010, Vladimir Putin offered the then Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to partition Ukraine. The Polish prime minister did not answer anything because he thought it was being recorded and it was a provocation. But today in 2022 we can see that it was a real proposition.

[@keeperofthefate]

It's not that we want revenge. It's a blend of empathy (as we were in similar position, where our neighbours refused our right to exist and decided to delete our state) and pragmatism (if Ukraine falls, we are next; by helping Ukraine, we are pushing russian invasion into NATO states by 10-15 years). We are not doing this to spite russians. We were the ones who wanted peace. Russia is the one that always escalate soft and hard across former Warsaw State. Russia is the one who calls everybody rusophobes and then procceds to invade others and mass genocide.

[@casbot71]

The Warsaw Pact systems supplied by Poland compared to the Russian equipment will _have been maintained properly_ and not stripped for bits to sell on the black market and given fake upgrades with the money siphoned off. The odds are very good that a Polish T-72 is in far better condition and more capable than a Russian T-72.

[@ArchOfficial]

Realistically, they will be using the same ammo, same optics, same FCS and if you slap a bit of ERA on the Polish T-72, will have the same protection. However the Polish T-72 will have a better maintained engine, transmission and chassis. On paper T-72B3 or even T-72B Obr. 1989 should be far superior, but if they're using parts from salvaged T-72A... Russian bots have been trying to claim that all of the Polish T-72 died on the battlefield already, but in fact *none* of them have been in combat. They're being outfitted with upgrades. EDIT: T-72A~ equivalents specifically, not the already upgraded ones. I think those have already seen service, already being upgraded and all.

[@josephstalin7353]

I feel like Russian armour is becoming the new "German transmission" meme.

[@Sonlirain]

@@josephstalin7353 It's arguably even funnier because german transmissions failed because they were over engineered, built by slave labor and towards the end of the war had no spare parts to fix as nearly all the factories were bombed flat. Meanwhile russian stuff was lauded to be extremely reliable battle hardened and rugged only for the whole meme unravel within a couple weeks.

[@ladrok97]

No matter condition (they were better), when 100% ability is so far worse. Those T-72 were never modified (well some of them got thermal vision - it's all). Poland have really modified T-72 - those are 232 PT-91 (plus probably some spare one in reserves). Sadly for now they can't be exported on Ukraine, because there will be real lack of equipment. But after LL and talking with South Korea there is some chance of PT-91 visiting Kiev this year

[@matthewmatthew638]

Given much of the Polish army/fighting force still has its lineage from the Soviets, which were the origination of the corruption in the current Russian army, what have the Poles done in terms of restructuring to get rid of this culture , and how successful has it been? Genuinely curious.

[@petemcelhaney9205]

I'm so glad you have pointed out the critical contributions Poland has made and their ongoing and future sacrifices...they truly don't get enough recognition...bravo Brother

[@Dexiefy]

Saying that Winged hussars were 'some of the finest in the world at the time' is understatement of the century at best and simply wrong at worst. Winged Hussars were the most elite cavalry force to ever exist. Hussars were like having current day tanks during WW1. It was not uncommon for 2k hussars to basically destroy 20k army on their own. During Swedish deluge mercenaries straight up refused to fight if they were to go against hussars. And this is during times when Hussars were 'fading away' due to combat field rapidly changing with the times. Hussars have not lost a single battle for 125 years. Worth noting is that Poles were famous for their cavalry for ages. During Napoleonic wars one just needs to look at Battle of Somosiera to understand why literally every nation wanted Polish cavalry, even though Poland did not exist. Later on, during Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920, In Battle of Komarów 1750 Poles have beaten 17.5k Soviets in the last known large scale cavalry battle in history. And ofc the last know Polish cavalry charge took place near Szczecin agains the Germans in 1945, which Poles won. Also funny part about the everyone hating Russians and case ofTurkey specifically. Poland has defeated Ottomans in Vienna and Jan III Sobieski basically has beaten Ottoman's back to their homes after that. Despite that clash of Poland with Turkey and Christianity with Islam, Turkey and Poland, ever since have lots of respect for each other. Turkey has also never recognized partitioning of Poland out of respect for Polish flightiness and honor on the battlefield. Meanwhile anyone who ever fought with Russia, always hates Russia for ages thereafter. Just a funny observation.

[@michaelhintz7679]

Not Chechens according to Tolstoy....for the simple reason they did not even see them as human, more like a annoying pest...that needed to be snuffed out.

[@randomyoutubecommentersecu7639]

"Meanwhile anyone who ever fought with Russia, always hates Russia for ages thereafter. Just a funny observation." Romanian here- read about what they did alongside the ottomans to us. I have nothing against the turks now .They have changed. Russians remained the same. Would happily cross the border towards belgorod with our polish and european brothers if those retards tried to be even dumber than they have been. Keeping in mind russian lack of working brain matter who knows what they will think of next.

[@conwaysquest6961]

The winged hussars were known as the angels of death.

[@TheBlobik]

I am no expert on the subject and part of what I write here might be wrong, feel free to correct me if you know better. But I believe one of key advantages of hussars was their extremely long lances, that were able to outreach any pikes that a foot soldier could hold. This meant that unlike in the West, cavarly was still able to crush infantry. How were Poles able to make lances longer? By making them one-time use - they were hollowed out and made light but fragile, cause otherwise they would be too heavy to wield. So the Hussars charged, broke their lances, came back for new ones, and charged again - repeating this as much as needed to rout the enemy, after which they could just slash fleeing infantry with sabres. Thus I often like to think about hussars as carriers of... missles. Cause in a way their lances became a single use, targeted, hand-guided "projectile" of immense destructive power.

[@Dexiefy]

@@TheBlobik You are correct. Hussar lance was 5-6 meters long, which made it longer than any pike or spear in use. It was made usually from pine wood and as you have said, hollow inside to reduce it's weight in order to preserve the length and it was the length that allowed Hussars to dominate as hard as they did and be effective for as long as they were. Ofc there were other factors, but it was the lance that allowed hussars to basically invalidate most common way of protection from cavalry charges. There are also multiple accounts of Hussars impaling multiple people with one lance. 2-3 was a fairly common occurrence, while record is 5 or 6 people, can't remember exactly at this point. So your thinking is fairly accurate. Sabers were most common weapon used to kill routing enemies or in regular melee combat after charge. However, Hussars often also used warhammers called 'Nadziak' in Polish (closest translation would be 'Impaler' i suppose) which was blunt at the front and had a spike at the back side. It was extremly brutal weapon that went through armour like through butter. On top of that Hussars also wielded pistols.

[@rossmurray6849]

This, at the 13:00 minute mark, had me rolling on the floor laughing: "The point of going through all this is basically to say that there is a history of enmity and conflict between the Poles and the Russians, kind of like there is between the Finns and the Russians, or the Japanese and the Russians, or the Turks and the Russians, or indeed, the Russians and the Russians."

[@Tounushi]

"Damned Russians, they ruined Russia!"

[@Echelon030]

Damn Russians. They ruined Russia!

[@seneca983]

Damned Russians! They ruined Russia!

[@petriew2018]

neighboring Russia is never dull at least, right?

[@JohnSmith-gd2fg]

A long history of expansion of Empire will eventually result in some disagreements in border regions, with both the (previous) governing power, and the inhabitants who might well want a say in their own destiny. Which is of course putting it mildly.

[@Juiceman-fz6pm]

Those of us that are familiar with the war in Ukraine knows that Poland is the unsung hero of this war. Mabuhay ang Poland! 🇵🇱 Mabuhay ang Ukraine! 🇺🇦 Mabuhay means “Long Live” in Tagalog or Philippine language. 🇵🇭

[@onomatopejaB]

Thanks you Sir from the bottom of my heart.

[@karczameczka]

Somehow I feel honored you use your native language for us. Thank you. Niech żyją Philippines! 🇵🇭 :)

[@Juiceman-fz6pm]

@@karczameczka Hello again, I hope all is well with you. I just want to let you know that just because it’s happening in Eastern Europe, which is about 9000 km from Manila. That doesn’t mean that we are not aware of what is happening in Poland in Ukraine. You’ll be surprised that we are up-to-date to the current situation that is happening in the eastern part of Ukraine. I know that this is an old news but we know that your government donated close to 300 T 72s to the Ukrainian military. It is mine boggling and brave, because Poland defense budget it’s not that big compared do your neighbor Germany. Talking about Germany, they are really frustrating and I think that they are not fully committed to defeating Putin and his army. German chancellor Olaf Scholz looks like he is playing in the middle of the fence and doesn’t want to commit against Russia. They have been always the last country to give arms and support to Ukraine. I just want to say one last thing and this is I believe the most important part of my comment. I am a US Marine That fought in Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2004. The reason why I have so much respect for the Polish people is because you guys specifically your military for side-by-side with us In Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. I will never forget seeing members of the Polish military in Bagram Air Force Base. I was stationed at a small forward operating base in Kunar province Which was right exactly next to the border of Pakistan and during that time Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives would attack us or attack our forward operating base Asadabad and retreat back into Pakistan territory because they know we could not chase them there. Fire base, Asadabad is like the wild, wild West of Afghanistan where most of the fighting was happening and if you are familiar with the movie “Lone Survivor” played by Mark Wahlberg. The actual incident in that movie where fire team of Navy SEALs were ambushed and three of the four-man team was killed only one survive and his real name is Marcus Lutrell What my point is Forward operating base Asadabad Is a very dangerous place and guess who replaced us operating in that area… The Polish military. Just to add one more thing I also saw members of the Ukrainian military in Bagram airbase you could instantly tell from a far that it’s either the Polish military or the Ukrainian military because they were armed with AK 74 which I think is an awesome weapon. I hope that the Polish people will continue helping the Ukrainians until the end because this war will end one way or Another and when future generation will read the history books or tablet they will see that a very brave country and people stood up, never gave up, and sacrificed so much for Ukraine because they don’t want this country to fall under the curtain of tyranny. The name of this country is Poland… in my opinion it is like a little light but it shines so bright because everything around it is so dark. So, Poland please show the world how it’s done keep on shining and may your flames never burn out until Ukraine is free again. Mabuhay ang Poland!🇵🇱 Mabuhay ang Ukraine!🇺🇦 Long live Poland!🇵🇱 Long live Ukraine!🇺🇦

[@eugenebrown306]

And thank you Poland. A real team player.

[@IhaveBigFeet]

As a Pole, I think it is our duty as the largest nation in the region to help defend Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova and push for regime change in Belarus. All the countries need to be independent.

[@piotrd.4850]

Still they are SOVIETS.

[@kaszaspeter77]

Lots of love to Poland from Hungary!! Remember, not everyone in HU is in Putin's ass. Keep up the good work in supporting Ukr!

[@kleinweichkleinweich]

think we all know how it was the last time the soviets/Russians came to liberate our countries I'm still ashamed of parts of my government who want to pad the Russian bear and understand him better

[@UserName-eb9oy]

Thank you! 🇭🇺❤🇵🇱

[@thorthewolf8801]

While I think hungary should take a bigger role in supporting ukraine, I dont think other countries have a right to criticize it considering history.

[@LMB222]

What's up with your compatriots, Peter? Why are they supporting this puppet Orbán?

[@supreme3376]

nobody say that you still have big credits in Poland

[@josuad6890]

Poles are often badasses that goes unwritten in most history books. A good example of this is when one surviving pole ship after Nazi Germany destroyed their country, the ORP Piorun, is actually one of the first ship that spot the Bismarck, then threw a middle finger at that ship while creating chaos and screaming "WE ARE POLES" while at it. Thanks to spotting and slowing Bismarck down with their ridiculous persistence, the brits eventually managed to catch up and sunk Bismarck down.

[@KeyserFHT]

Piorun (actually HMS Nerissa, renamed after Brits gave it away to Polish Navy as a replacement for ORP Grom sunk at Narvik) sure did that spotting, middle-fingering and 1v1 thing with Bismarck. Not the slowing though. That was achieved earlier, by a Ark Royal's Swordfish torpedo, which damaged Bismarck's stern and rudder. The battleship was already limping when Piorun found it and engaged. The Poles didn't know that Bismarck was damaged and couldn't maneuver. They thought it's fully operational. And engaging with a destroyer vs battleship was kind of suicidal. But someone had to stay in contact and spot Bismarck. HMS Hood had to be avenged (there were a few Polish cadets and junior officers in training on Hood too).

[@LMB222]

My favourite WW2 story is from a different front: During the Nazi occupation, Poles were printing anti German leaflets. All they had was a simple mechanical photocopier, and one absolutely crazy idea: in order to fool gestapo, they cut the paper with a special knife that resembled the way an offset printing machine does, which is a huge installation. Gestapo ended up looking for a huge printhouse all around Warsaw, and all that because the printers used a toothed knife. Huge waste of Nazi resources.

[@karczameczka]

If you like the story of ORP Piorun, you sure would like story of ORP Orzeł submarine - it’s even better. Piorun is famous here in PL, true, but Orzel - Orzel is a legend.

[@juliuszkocinski7478]

Fellow LazerPig enjoyer or different source? :D

[@karczameczka]

@@juliuszkocinski7478 Jeżeli to pytanie do mnie, to chyba masz już odpowiedź xD LazerPig nie nagrał (jeszcze?) filmu o Orle. A powinien.

[@mleko23]

Over last 20 years I've made many Ukraininan friends, fantastic people. Listening to you - guy from Australia - who seems to understand our relations, and our readiness to help Ukraine, it is just (as we say) honey on my heart. Great job! Greets from Cracow.

[@Posiman]

Thank you for this. Here in Czechia I keep arguing with my leftist friends who are like "We Are being pushed into war by western european states because of their economical interests." No, we are being pulled into war by Poland and the Baltics because of theirs and ours security interests. The westerners are assisting a lot but they sometimes try to drag their feet and they would be dragging them even more If Poland and the Baltics did not hold an extra-firm stance in this...

[@LMB222]

Your leftist friends may believe that, but the Czech government was very quick to send haubice (howitzers) to Ukraine.

[@Posiman]

@@LMB222 Yeah. And I'm proud of that. By the way, the word "howitzer" originally comes from Czech "houfnice". Loosely translated it means "a thing to kill a lot of people"

[@LMB222]

​@@Posiman I know this is a Czech word, just forgot how you spell it in Czech. I'm proud of your country's inventions.

[@LMB222]

Remind your friends that Russians blew up a weapons depot on the territory if the Czech Republic!

[@kamikaziu]

I've just read a statistics saying that 87% of Poles expressed a negative attitude towards Russia making us biggest rusophobes in the world. And thats only one of our virtues. But I wouldn't call it rusophobia as it implies fear and no one is scared becouse the king is naked.

[@ethank5059]

Most terms ending in “phobia” also apply a somewhat irrational fear. Tight spaces don’t actually kill people and yet people are still “claustrophobic.” I’ve never heard someone who wants to avoid being shot described as “bullet-phobia” or anything similar. Russia loves to complain about how other countries have “Russophobia” but that implies that there isn’t a valid reason to fear Russia. When Russia has invaded and oppressed so many Eastern European countries since WWII ended a fear of Russia is perfectly valid and understandable.

[@malario5235]

Phobic do you think WE ARE SCARED?? *Demonic laugh*

[@krzysztof4802]

there no "phobia" here - it's just rage that we can't do more to defeat these russian fascists once for all to make world better for everyone

[@kennethferland5579]

The cultural impact of nearly every Ukranian child who will come of age in the next generation will know that Poland gave them refuge will be imense, it will be comperable to the feeling the British had towards the US after WW2.

[@piotrd.4850]

You have no concept or knowledge of Soviet entitlement mentality in general, and Ukrainian in Particular.

[@forwardtsender8573]

@@piotrd.4850 Could you elaborate?

[@Jimmy_The_Goat]

@@forwardtsender8573 bot account posting under every comment. Just a warning

[@nooboftheyear7170]

@@forwardtsender8573 that should need no explanation as even to a brit with no experience of such things as colonisation personally, I can understand that the rusdian think and assume that they are a benevolent people that know what is best for everyone and have access to everything. Or at least something along those lines. I suppose it is easy to get ensnared in the sin of pride and think themselves as gods. One wonders whether they are due a babel moment too or whether this war will prove to be the equivalent.

[@ferney2936]

I'm British and I still feel so grateful to the US for their vital support during WW2 and also for the many Poles who fought with our forces

[@choosehappy6291]

Nothing short of superb is Poland's response to Ukraine. I want to see far more media coverage to acknowledge Polish support.

[@LordCrackie357]

Never really taken the time to think about Poland and their overwhelming importance in this situation and how they are strengthening their military and the role they are playing. Thank you for this great information.

[@ManuelBasiri]

I know several Polish people here in Australia and one of them is my employee. Amazing people with deeply embedded principles and virtues. It is thorough these historical incidents that the core and essence of nations are exposed. We can see the rotten core of Russian political society and the contrast with that of Ukraine and Poland. Slava Ukraini. Thank you Perun for your amazing insight and vigilance.

[@LMB222]

Perun, you're missing a small detail about Poland's energy supplies: Poland wanted off Russian gas since early 1990's. Unfortunately, Norwegian gas was too expensive for then poor Poland. In the 25 years since then, Poland has built a gas pipeline via Denmark, which is starting operation in August 2022. This means Poland could afford to talk back to Putin. This also means Putin has again miscalculated [edit: how far he could threaten Poland], because it was known to Russians that Poland is about to disconnect.

[@ladrok97]

Poland had started building "liquid gas port" in like... 2005? And ended it like in 2015? At those time liquidfied gas has costed more than now

[@MT-eb2dx]

That's why he cut the gas, to threaten other countries and to look tough... Like Russia left the UN when indeed they got suspended and where close to being thrown out. And all that they in turn could sell as propaganda to their own people.. its so sad.

[@aerodroo]

I don't think it's any coincidence that this latest spate of Russian aggression coincides with its neighbors or near-neighbors' own growth and lack of need for Russian energy in the future. I think Putin's calculation was that it's now or never - although, thankfully, it seems as though that too is a massive miscalculation. Major respect to all the Eastern European and Scandinavian nations from the US.

[@Silver_Prussian]

How he miscalculated ? When they didnt pay for their gas theu got cut off its simple as that you dont pay you dont get gas. Also that liquid gas will be quite expensive and not so easy to transport then you need to convert it which is all pretty expensive.

[@bartoszbaranowski604]

@@Silver_Prussian Not true. Poland offered payment, as per contract. Orcs just tried to force payment in useless currency. Got denied.

[@Sloum44]

Perfect analysis, very proffesional, properly addressing all main reasons of Poland's support to Ukraine. Congratulation to the author, very well historical bacground, excellent recognition of potential chances and wht's at stake. Well done !!!

[@matthewhuszarik4173]

I don’t think anyone who is paying attention doesn’t appreciate everything Poland is doing. May everyone have such a stalwart ally.

[@curtcoeurdelion]

The Soviets also tried to stir up tensions between the Baltics and the Poles as much as the could, to disrupt their historical ties. It’s good to see that they have come together once again to support each other or former parts of their state - as f.e. Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland are doing right now by supporting Ukraine. Belarus is also leaning very heavy in Ukraines favor, with Lukashenkos politics being an antagonistic approach to the history of Belarus, therefore giving hope to the assumption that his rule will also fall after Russia is defeated in their ongoing war in Ukraine. It’s also noteworthy that the Fall of the Iron Curtain was heavily influenced by Pope John Paul II. and his policies, which supported the Solidarnosc-Movement in Poland and by that the Fall of the Iron Curtain itself, from Hungary to the Fall of the Berlin Wall. John Paul’s Father was polish, his mother Lithuanian.

[@curtcoeurdelion]

@@peterc.1419 That’s why I wrote about the Soviets trying their best to divide these two as best as they could. Yes, there are still some resentments on both sides, but it is getting way better in recent years, especially with the younger generations and now the Russian Aggression is also bringing the people together, as it is bringing the Ukrainians together too.

[@kalkol21]

@@curtcoeurdelion In fact that was Tsarist Russia and some trickie using of "Revolutions 1848"...

[@christiandauz3742]

Wish a Time-traveler Industrialize and Secularize Ancient Persia. Russia wouldn't exist

[@piotra71]

@@peterc.1419 The Lithuanians never liked Poland. Until Russians come, then they cry defend us. That's why they wanted a Union in the middle ages. They felt threatened by Moscow but before then they were constantly raiding Polish lands. Basically Baltic states can not exist without Poland. This was proven in 1939, when Poland fell so did the Baltic states.

[@bw2903]

Belarusian people are culturally, linguistically stronger tied to Polish people then anything Russo influence has tried to force on it. Moscow is a house of cards, and like history repeating itself, I can only see Belarus and Ukraine becoming closer to Poland over time. And I think most of us would like to see a reunion of the West and East Slavs, maybe the birth of a Great Slavic Commonwealth. I bet the Baltics would be up for a party too.

[@bastiangugu4083]

One note on the history lesson. As an east-german I have to say that all Germans owe Poland a debt. Without solidarnosc (excuse the spelling) and its fight I think there wouldn't have been the fall of Wall. And without the acceptance of Poland there wouldn't have been a united Germany. Many Germans today seem to forget these facts, if they know any history at all.

[@Nonsense010688]

West German here. I totally agree: Poland played a major role in freeing not just itself but the whole eastern block. It is regrettable that petty differences have prevented us to form stronger ties of "comradeship" over this share experience.

[@LMB222]

Be moderate in those claims. Germany has been helping Poland economically. Why is Poland one of the very few countries where manufacturing is actually on the rise, instead of migrating to Asia? Because Polish companies are way more flexible than those in "old" EU. No, it's not only the price, Poland is becoming expensive, but it's a country where the producer will deliver much faster, and will not complain about "strange demands". Also, have you asked yourself why, for example, Great Britain ("great" referring to size, not quality😉) has such problems with youth unemployment, but Czechia, Slovakia and Poland do not? It's because of the dual education system. Those countries copied the German way of educating people.

[@bastiangugu4083]

@@LMB222 I agree. At the same time Germany has done everything to nearly destroy its educational sector. Every time I speak with employers they complain about the quality of our schools and the lack of education. Its the same with new students at the universities, they get dumber every year. (not my words, but of an professor of math). Most need up to 2 semesters to learn the stuff they should already know from school. You're right Germany helped Poland economically, with an good portion of self-interest I think. We imported a lot of skilled workers from Poland and it was and is a good market. On the political side of things I think that the foreign policy of Germany is (and was for some time now) a mixture of historically uninformed power politics (without geostrategic awareness) and moral grandstanding. The art of respectfully disagreeing and open discussion seems to be lost in Germany. Poland and polish politicians get criticized relentlessly without an eye to their own conduct.

[@Arecki882]

Love from Poland

[@LMB222]

Basti, there were some East Germans who did go to jail in Cottbus for supporting Lech Wałęsa. There's a video on KZbin of them visiting him after the Mauerfall.

[@clivehorridge]

Very astute Perun, whilst knowing the importance of Poland and its assistance to Ukraine, I see that you’re one of the very few who have presented this in such detail. Congrats on your posts, they’re spot-on. ❤️🇷🇴

[@kristofburek264]

Here's a WWii joke I didn't think I'd find myself telling: A German and a Russian soldier smash their way into a man's house in Poland at the same time. The man defends his house by shooting the German soldier first, then the Russian. When asked why he chose to do it that way he replies "business before pleasure!"

[@jerzymarzec3386]

Najpierw obowiązek potem przyjemność!

[@mobo8074]

Just to add about railroads. We have Central Coal Line that runs from Silesia on the South to the North and port of Gdynia moving masses of coal and steel products amongst other and also we have Metallurgical Line (LHS) that was specifically built as wide-gauge for export of our steel from Katowice Steel mill to USSR (actually to Ukraine border). At the meeting point of these two lines, in Silesia there are big transloading terminals allowing for example company of the name Golden Grain to export Ukrainian grain through Poland since 2012. As of 2018 there were 50 so-called intermodal terminals in Poland, allowing for speedy shipment East-West, also handling the cargo coming from China. Please keep in mind that Poland is logistical giant in Europe, because of central location on South-North and East- West axis.

[@LMB222]

LHS is a single track, and not electrified. The capacity is… American. Slovakia has an electrified double tracked broad line to Ukraine, but I'm not sure the state of it.

[@DJRYGAR1]

few years ago I read about some Polish company designed train axis with variable witdh. I wonder what happened to that, would be great to have it now.

[@bogdanbaudis4099]

@@DJRYGAR1 " variable witdh" This comes back again and again ... I remember that from much older times (80s). This never really caught up. Nowadays I suspect that because containers are widely used and too easy to reload then it is not optimal enough ...

[@ceplma]

@@LMB222 It goes only to Košice where the large steel plants were, but I am not sure what state it is now.

[@LMB222]

@@ceplma I know - the point is that it is on NATO territory, so reloading from standard gauge trains is safe from Russian missiles. Also, as I've said, electrified two track rail is something much different than the Polish single track diesel-operated line.

[@truthsmiles]

As an American, thank you for opening my eyes. Every moment of this video was educational and I now much better understand what a debt we all owe to Poland.

[@ironmantooltime]

You'll look at your Polish communities differently next time? 😎

[@dmen1k345]

As a Londoner,i 2nd that!

[@LMB222]

Slowly with those claims. We have way too many people in Poland who would love to ride the "West has betrayed us" train. Don't feed them.

[@kostakatsoulis2922]

@@LMB222 i mean if you go back to WW2 then thats 100 percent true, although in the modern world I don't think so

[@supreme3376]

"For Freedom our and yours" MOSTLY YOURS THAT THE POLAND IT IS

[@stanislawpodgorski7270]

Great stuff Piorun. Keep up the good job. Its really important to mention our great neighbours from Czechia, Slovakia, our brothers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in enormous help and support for this struggle.

[@GrubyTolek]

Thank you for this video! Being Polish myself I can say this was a very competent take, it's rare for any foreigner to understand Poland so well. If I would add something, it's that the Polish - Ukrainian relationship was actually not that great before this war. Ukrainians gained a lot of Polish sympathy and, more importantly, respect, when we saw them so effectively resisting Russia. We had many differences, including very bloody ones, but they were all overcome by wanting to see Russia beat.

[@michaziomek]

Yeah, their national hero (Bandera) is considered a butcher in Poland. Still, we technically occupied their country for quite a long time (Lviv maybe was full of Poles, but every village around it was Ukrainians) so let's maybe move on and try not to remember too much? We get along with Germans 'somehow' after WW2.

[@GrubyTolek]

@@michaziomek It's worth actually remembering that Bandera was in prison and the massacre we associate with him was planned by other leaders. I think if we remembered the details of what happened more correctly we would actually have a higher chance of historical reconciliation with Ukraine... Because we could let them "have" Bandera, who is not guilty of the massacre, as long as they tell the truth about the real war criminals. And about Germany... I think we should aspire to a better relationship than that one :)

[@michaziomek]

@@GrubyTolek Huh, didn't know he was in prison. All the more reasons to try to put it past us. As for Germany - I do believe we let them off too easy after what they did to our country.

[@seancarroll9849]

Ukraine: "Wait...Where did these all these HIMARS come from?" Poland: "It fell off the back of a truck; would you mind giving Putin a broken leg for us?" *innocent whistling* Russia: *visible worry*

[@richardarriaga6271]

*How corruption in the West weakens Russia*

[@wojciechkowalski8061]

Well researched and detailed presentation. A Polish saying from (at least) Polish-Bolshevik war: "There is no free Poland without free Ukraine, There is no free Ukraine without free Poland". It is clear for us that collapse of Ukraine will result in a conflict with Russia in the future, so no reasonable person will deny support. This is one of few things that can unite almost all of our divided political scene. We are willing to do anything and everything in our power to aid, because for us opposing Russia (at least in its current form) is a matter of not revanchism, but survival. Right now our military stockpiles are literally emptied of everything Ukraine can use and we can spare (and some we don't have enough ourselves), and our government is announcing new military purchases every other day. It is my personal (and not really unfounded) belief that if not for Russian nukes, we would deploy our soldiers to help Ukraine at latest by the end of March.

[@Marvin-dg8vj]

Quite possibly true.However a lot of other countries have crossed the line with the Putin regime and are now committed to a long term struggle against Russia.Once you take these type of sanctions and supply very big level of military support there is no going back.Germany is putting in some very large arms orders.

[@legion999]

There are unfortunately a seemingly a significant number of our countrymen who don't understand this(no doubt fueled by russian psy-ops), and now are whining that Ukrainian refugees are getting "too many priviledges", which is insane considering the tragedy and destruction these people have suffered. If it were up to me I'd empty out the entire Polish military equipment and vehicle stockpiles to send to Ukraine. Abrams? F-16s? Send it all.

[@mattblom3990]

@@legion999 Which is so illogical. The refugees from Ukraine are women, children, and the old. Not only that, they want to go home as soon as they can. "Privilieges" seems such a lame thing to whine about right now.

[@zbigniewp1810]

@@legion999 it is a very minor fraction of polish society - 99% of "people" writing this in the internet are sitting in Moscow.

[@zbyszekzbigel3914]

What we Poles do for Ukraine results from the fact that we do not forget history and, as you mentioned, we have fought for our freedom for centuries. From 1831, the fighting Poles had the motto "For our freedom and yours." This motto also accompanied us during WWII, and now the Ukrainians are fighting for our freedom Respect for such well-produced material that takes into account the history of our nations. Thank you