Poland's democracy hero, Lech Walesa, and dozens of other former political prisoners in Poland have written a letter to President Donald Trump, telling him that his treatment of Ukrainian President Ukraine in the Oval Office last week filled them with "horror and disgust."
Walesa, who was president shortly after democracy returned to Poland, and the other signatories tell Trump that they found it offensive that he expected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance that the United States has provided to Ukraine while defending itself from the Russian invasion.
"Gratitude should be directed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed blood in defense of the values of the free world. They are the ones who have been dying on the front lines," they state.
The White House has demanded that Zelenski show more openness to possible concessions to end the fighting, but Zelenski has been resistant, saying on Monday that any agreement with Russia is still "very, very far away," while seeking greater security guarantees from Washington.
Walesa posted the letter on Facebook on Monday along with a photo of him with Trump. The letter was signed by him and 38 other former activists of democracy who were imprisoned by the Moscow-backed communist regime in Poland before 1989. Among the other signatories are Adam Michnik, Bogdan Lis, Seweryn Blumsztajn, and Wadyslaw Frasyniuk.
"We were also terrified by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of what we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and communist courts," they wrote.
"Prosecutors and judges, appointed by the all-powerful communist secret police, also explained to us that they held all the cards, and we had none. They demanded that we cease our activities, arguing that thousands of innocent people were suffering because of our cause. They deprived us of freedom and civil rights because we did not agree to cooperate with the authorities and did not show them gratitude. We are amazed that you treated President Volodymyr Zelenski in a similar manner," they wrote.
From 1980, Walesa led Poland's pro-democracy Solidarity movement, which nine years later peacefully overthrew communism in Poland and inspired other countries to break free from Moscow's domination.
In 1983, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Between 1990 and 1995, he served as Poland's first democratically elected president.