For Europe and the entire world, Ukraine is the very place where democracy is defended, and European countries must build their own military force to protect democratic values.

This message was shared by Adam Michnik, Gazeta Wyborcza Editor-in-Chief at the 17th  Annual Kyiv Security Forum “UA: UNITE AGAIN TO DEFEAT THE GLOBAL AGGRESSOR”, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation “Open Ukraine”.

“I think that today Ukraine an example of heroism, of resistance to Putin’s, to Russian aggression, a place where democracy is defended. And it an example not only for Poland, but for the whole of Europe and the entire world, ,” Adam Michnik said.

He expressed his belief that Russian President Putin “wants to introduce totalitarian customs and install his totalitarian system to the extent possible.”

“The first victim of Putin’s totalitarianism was Russia itself, because he started by destroying civil society in his own country,” he added.

According to Adam Michnik, the global populism wave has reached today the United States. “This is not the America I knew… I cannot calmly hear the US President talking to the President of Ukraine in Putin’s language,” he explained.

The Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza noted that what the way the US President is acting reminds him of the “Putinization of the United States.” In this context, he expressed his belief that Europe must “build its own military might” and that Ukraine’s role in this effort is fundamental.

The Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk “Open Ukraine” foundation, is the main platform in this country to discuss problems of war and peace, national and world security.