End of russia's war against Ukraine could spark explosion of international crime - Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda said the end of russia's war against Ukraine could spark an explosion of international organized crime, and that Ukraine would need "massive support" to ensure its security.

He said this in an interview with the Financial Times.

Duda expressed fears that when the fighting stops, crime will spill over the border from Ukraine into Poland, also affecting Western Europe and the United States.

In particular, he compared the situation with russia in the early 1990s, when banditry and gun violence increased among veterans of the ten-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

"Just think back to the times when the Soviet Union collapsed and how much the level of organized crime in Western Europe and the United States increased," he said.

Duda, who will step down as President in August, said that if a peace agreement is concluded between russia and Ukraine, the latter must provide support to restore the economy and "maintain order and security within the country."

"Imagine a situation where thousands of people return home from the front. Those people who are fighting with russia, many of them will have mental problems," he said.

The Polish President added that many of them will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and will return to "their villages, their cities, where they will see destroyed houses, destroyed factories, destroyed factories, without jobs and without prospects."

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, today, February 3, Poland's Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk arrived in Kyiv.