On May 12, 2025, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated on Sunday, May 11, that the massive fire that burned down Warsaw’s largest shopping center a year ago was intentionally set by people acting on orders from Russia.
“We can now confirm that the major fire at the Marywilska shopping center in Warsaw was orchestrated by Russian agents, some arsonists have been detained, others have been identified and are being pursued. We will catch all of you!” Tusk declared.
In March of this year, Tusk had previously stated that evidence provided by Lithuania indicated Russian responsibility for the arson attack, aligning with Poland’s suspicions. In his statement on Sunday, Tusk explicitly blamed Russia for the incident. Tusk had written in March that Lithuania’s investigation revealed Ukrainian citizens instigated by Russia were behind the arson attacks at an IKEA store in Vilnius on May 9, 2024, and the fire at Marywilska on May 12, 2024.
Poland’s prosecutor had stated a week earlier that a Belarusian refugee was responsible for the fire.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the Warsaw fire.
Poland has long been one of the United States’ closest allies in Europe and views the U.S. as a bulwark against Russia. Poland was under Russian rule for centuries.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised Poland as a “model ally” in defense spending during his visit to Warsaw on February 14. Poland plans to allocate 4.7% of its GDP to defense this year, making it one of the closest allies to achieving President Trump’s proposed 5% defense spending-to-GDP ratio, far exceeding NATO’s minimum 2% level for member countries.
Hegseth stated that the level of partnership between the United States and Poland is unmatched in Europe, with ties that set Poland apart from other European countries.
Prior to his visit to Warsaw, Hegseth participated in a two-day NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels, during which he suggested that eventually, Europe will have to provide the majority of conventional deterrence forces to counter Russia, emphasizing that the U.S. cannot always be the “sucker” paying for Europe’s defense in the end, as the U.S. faces many threats, including from China.
(Source: POLITICO)