FROM WARSAW

POLAND’S DECISION TO halt military aid to Ukraine because, it says, it needs the equipment itself, is being interpreted by some experts as an indication that Warsaw feels Ukraine has already lost its war, and that Poland, being next on Russia’s list, is now looking to its own defence.

“The Poles have been bitching about cheap Ukrainian grain, which they’ve now banned, yeah, but this sudden change of policy – from its biggest neighborhood supporter – must be really devastating for the Zelenskyy government at this time,” says a US diplomat in Warsaw who asked not to be named. “It’s like a company’s major shareholder dumping his interest in a single trade. Indeed, shorting the stock. Of course, the experts could be reading this wrong, war is fluid. Maybe Warsaw is really preparing to do some kind of a deal with Putin. Poland is well aware of the limits of western loyalty – 1945. And remember, Poland used to own a sizeable portion of western Ukraine. They might see a chance to get some of it it back. Let’s see.”