Mike Pence says ‘now is the time for us to remain vigilant’ against Russia while in Poland

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence sought to reassure Eastern European nations Monday of the Trump administration’s commitment to its NATO allies in the face of Russian military aggression.

Pence in Poland declared that ‘Moscow seeks to divide our alliance’ but it is ‘unwavering’ and Vladimir Putin’s efforts to permanently fracture the multinational institution will not be successful.

‘Now is the time for us to remain vigilant about the intentions and the actions being taken by Russia,’ he declared at a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace in Warsaw.

Pence assured the Polish people, in spite of President Trump’s absence, ‘This alliance, this relationship with the United States has never been stronger.’

The American vice president said that Trump, who was supposed to be standing next there with Duda, expects to visit Poland in the coming weeks and was ‘truly disappointed’ he had to miss a commemoration marking the 80th anniversary of the start of WWII, because of a Category 5 hurricane that had the potential to rip through Florida.

However, he said Trump sent him to deliver a message about the strength of the alliance in which there has been friction over the U.S. president’s demands that Europe pay more to secure the region, including Ukraine, where the Trump administration is reconsidering $250 million in military assistance, as it reviews charges of public corruption.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Polish President Andrzej Duda smile during their meeting in Warsaw

U.S and Polish officials led by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, Energy Secretary Rick Perry (Pence’s left) and Polish President Andrzej Duda meet in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday morning

Pence pledged Sunday at the WWII memorial in Poland that that America will not abandon its allies and the superpower will always fight to protect their sovereignty and basic freedoms. 

In a speech decrying the ‘twisted’ ideologies of Nazism and Communism that Trump had been slated to give, Pence said on behalf of the administration, ‘America and Poland will continue to stand with all of our allies for our common defense. And America and Poland will also continue to call on all our allies to live up to the promises that we’ve made to one another.’

‘Today, we remember those that were lost in Poland, in their long twilight struggle, and all of those who sacrificed from my nation and nations represented here to win a victory for freedom,’ he said. ‘We remember those that were lost on this day, but we also do well to celebrate — to celebrate an enduring victory for freedom and the role that the people of Poland played by their strength and their example.’ 

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence pledged Sunday at a WWII memorial in Poland that that America will not abandon its allies and the superpower will always fight to protect their sovereignty and basic freedoms

Officials and leaders, among them U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stand during a memorial ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019

World leaders have gathered across Poland today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. (Pictured: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskly shakes hand with US vice president Mike Pence at a meeting where the Trump administration official promised to support Ukraine.)

Polish Trump supporters hold banners during the ceremony of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII

A man holds the U.S. and Polish flag while listening the speech of Vice President Mike Pence speaks in Warsaw on Sunday

At a meeting with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately after the speech, Pence extended that goodwill to Ukraine, which the U.S. is backing in a territorial fight with Russia.

‘The United States and Ukraine have a strong relationship. We have stood with the people of Ukraine, and most especially, since 2014, we have stood strongly for the territorial integrity of Ukraine,’ Pence said. ‘And I can assure you that we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine on your security, on territorial integrity including Ukraine’s rightful clam to Crimea.’

Pence said they would be discussing the nation’s ‘progress’ toward achieving the Minsk agreement that was put in place to end the warfare and establish Ukraine’s ownership over the peninsula. 

‘The relationship between the United States and Ukraine has never been stronger,’ he asserted in the meeting that came less than a week after Trump offered to host Vladimir Putin in the United States without preconditions.

Zelensky did not mention the outreach publicly and replied, ‘We really appreciate the United States’ efforts in defending the rights of Ukraine and territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country.’

He thanked the U.S. for its financial support and military assistance in the dispute with Moscow. 

‘And we believe that soon the peace will come now, and we’re doing everything possible to achieve that,’ he added. 

Polish President Andrzej Duda had lectured the West on ‘turning a blind eye’ to territorial violations that preceded the murder of millions of Jews in Europe in an earlier speech in which he invoked the conflict in Crimea.

‘Turning a blind eye is not a silver bullet to keep the peace. It is a simple way to embolden those who are aggressive, to give permission to perpetrate more attacks. Ladies and Gentleman you know this is happening,’ he said in an Duofficial English-language translation.

Pence and Zelensky were among the dozens of officials across 40 delegations who attended the Sunday ceremony in Pilsudski Square that’s crescendo was an apology from the German president to the Polish people for Nazi atrocities in the war that began 80 years ago with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1. 

He said that Germans ‘committed a great crime against humanity in Poland’ and told the nation, ‘I bow my head before the Polish victims of Germany’s tyranny.’  

Hundreds of people also amassed in Berlin for a church service to mark the beginning of the war on September 1, 1939, when Hitler’s army began a bloody occupation that would take the lives of six million Poles and countless Jews.  

German Chancellor Angela Merkel notably attended the Warsaw commemoration. Russia’s Putin was not invited, even though the Soviets switched sides in the war, over the nation’s later attempts to control Poland through communism.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron joined Trump in skipping the event, making Merkel and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the highest-level foreign officials to come to Poland. 

Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg was also pictured attending the memorial ceremony in Warsaw, Poland

World leaders and officials pictured on the podium in front of Polish soldiers. Hungarian president Janos Ader and Slovenian president Borut Pahor were also in attendance at the ceremony in Warsaw 

Poles raise miniature flags at the ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War

US vice president Mike Pence arriving at Okecie Airport this morning as he prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the Second World War with delegations from up to 40 other countries in Poland’s capital Warsaw. President Trump cancelled his visit at the last minute due to a hurricane 

US vice president Mike Pence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskly during a bilateral meeting with other world leaders in Warsaw, Poland, after the ceremony. National Security Adviser to the US, John Bolton, was also at the meeting

London’s mayor was also photographed standing shoulder to shoulder with the European commission vice president Frans Timmermans and the mayor of Gdansk Aleksandra Dulkiewicz. 

In a statement, Sadiq Khan said he was there to ‘bang the drum’ for London and ‘spread the message that, however Brexit turns out, the city will always be open for business, trade and talent and a welcoming home for Polish citizens’.

‘With far-right extremism on the rise on a scale we have not seen for decades, I will also be using this visit to make the positive case for tolerance and inclusion in London, Poland and across Europe.’

Writing in The Observer, Khan also slammed Johnson and Trump as ‘extreme right-wing leaders’ who he claimed had not learned that the lessons of the Second World War, putting them in ‘danger of being forgotten’.

He labeled the U.S. president the ‘global poster-boy for white nationalism’ and accused him of being an inspiration for right-wing terrorists around the world. 

Trump in Washington noted as he returned to the White House from Camp David that Pence was in Poland in his place.   

‘I look forward to being there soon. But I just want to congratulate Poland. It’s a great country with great people,’ he said of their victory over fascism. ‘We also have many Polish people in our country. It could be 8 million. We love our Polish friends and I will be there soon.’

Supporters of President Donald Trump pictured hanging banners prior to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Second World War in Warsaw, Poland

Donald Trump with his wife Melania and the Polish President Andrzej Duda with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda at the Krasinski Square in Warsaw during a visit to the country on July 6 2017

Beginning on September 1, 1939, the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany saw Adolf Hitler’s troops attack the country from the north, south, and west. Hitler had been originally set to invade the country in August but wavered when Britain signed the Polish-British Common Defence Pact, which committed it to defend Poland and guarantee its independence in the face of German aggression. Above: Adolf Hitler observes German troops crossing the Vistula River, near Chelmno, Northern Poland 

The devastating attacks on Warsaw led to the surrender of the Polish garrison on September 27 – they had endured 18 days of continuous bombing and finally surrendered at 2pm that afternoon. Above: The ruins of the Lubomirski Palace in central Warswaw

At 4:45am on September 1, 1939, around 1.5million German troops invaded Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Above: A map drawn on parchment showing the directions of the German army’s attack

In August 1939, Germany had signed a non-aggression pact, known as the Nazi-Soviet pact, with the Soviet Union. In the agreement, the two countries agreed to divide Poland between them. Soviet forces were ordered into Poland on September 17. Above: A German soldier stands guard in Gdansk, Poland, on Septmber 1, 1939, with a sign which reads, ‘Stop! Danger! Live ammunition being fired’ 

How the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 triggered the outbreak of the Second World War 

The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, came just one week after Nazi Germany had signed a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union.

It meant that Poland ended up being bombarded from all sides by two vastly more powerful hostile powers – with Russian troops invading the country on September 17.

Hitler’s decision to invade Poland was a gamble; partly because the German Army – the Wehrmacht – was not yet at full strength, and partly because German generals were unsure how Britain and France would react.

German soldiers are pictured celebrating the occupation of Westerplatte with the erection of a swastika on September 7, 1939 

But Hitler himself regarded British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French leader Edouard Daladier to be weak and indecisive and thought they would opt for peace rather than declare war.

However, the Nazi leader’s annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, which Hitler’s previous promise that he had no future territorial demands in Europe, prompted Chamberlain to formally guarantee Poland’s borders in the face of aggression.

And a defence treaty between Britain and Poland also added weight to signals that Britain might react offensively to more German aggression.

But, once Hitler had the political support of Italian dictator Mussolini, he felt he had the capability to carry out his plans and felt Britain’s defence pledge would amount to little.

It was then that the invasion of Poland began on September 1, with fierce attacks coming through bombing raids, land invasions and naval bombardments.

Poland immediately requested military assistance from Britain and France and two days later the two countries declared war on Germany.

However, despite the declaration, Britain and France had little offensive strategy and were caught entirely unprepared for the speed with which German forces invaded Poland.

The country was therefore forced to face the overwhelmingly superior Nazi Germany, and later the Soviet Union, on its own.

The Luftwaffe – the German air force – overwhelmed Polish air capability and armoured divisions on land easily pushed through Polish defences.

Warsaw, the capital, surrendered to German forces on September 27, 1939, and the last Polish resistance were defeated on October 6.

Polish citizens suffered enormously, with the bombing of Warsaw killing up to 25,000 and millions more dying throughout Germany’s occupation of the country.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk