Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly questioned whether the United States would honour its NATO Article 5 obligation to defend Europe, warning that a Russian attack on an alliance member could come in "months" rather than years. In an interview with the FT conducted in Ayia Napa, Tusk said Europe's "biggest, most important question is if the United States is ready to be as loyal as it is described in our [NATO] treaties", framing the remark as "my dreams that guarantees on paper will change into something very practical".
The intervention is remarkable. Poland is NATO's biggest spender by share of GDP, already at 5% — the alliance's target — and is one of Europe's most staunchly Atlanticist countries. Tusk cited last year's incident when about 20 Russian drones breached Polish airspace and some NATO allies were reluctant to treat it as an attack; the alliance eventually scrambled jets and shot down several drones, the first direct NATO-Russia confrontation since 2022.
The context is an EU summit in Cyprus where leaders are debating reviving Article 42.7 — the EU treaty's own mutual-defence clause — in response to Trump's ambiguous stance on Article 5 and repeated threats to withdraw from NATO. The departure of Viktor Orbán, Putin's ally, opens space for that discussion; Tusk called the likely election of pro-EU conservative Péter Magyar a "much better collaborator" on defence. Tusk's framing: "my obsession now and my mission is to reintegrate Europe". Source: Financial Times, 24 April 2026, Henry Foy and Barbara Moens.