Poland PM: 'We Haven't Seen a Situation Like This Since 1945'

Poland's prime minister is out with a new warning for the rest of his neighbors in Europe, cautioning that the continent is now in a "prewar" era that requires an increase in defense spending all around to keep everyone safe. "I don't want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past," Donald Tusk said in an interview published Friday in German newspaper Die Welt, per the Guardian. "It's real and it started over two years ago." Poland has said that just days earlier, a Russian missile meant for Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war breached its airspace during an attack.

"The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible," Tusk, who was a past president of the European Council, continued, per CNN. "We haven't seen a situation like this since 1945." He acknowledged how "devastating" his remarks were, especially for younger people, but insisted they weren't hyperbole and that Europe has "a long way to go" to be in good shape for any hypothetical conflicts with Russia. The BBC notes that Poland spends about 4% of its economic output on defense spending, while the target for NATO nations is 2%. Multiple other countries in the EU haven't yet achieved that target. (More Donald Tusk stories.)