Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said Russia needs to leave behind its imperial ambitions.

“Russia is destabilizing a lot of countries across the globe, and Ukraine has suffered this frontal attack from Russia. But this is a demonstration that Russia is restoring its imperial ambitions and Russia has to stop that. The free world has to force Russia to do that”, Duda said when asked by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on what role Russia may have after the war in Ukraine is over. “This is our position, and that is why we are supporting Ukraine, because we believe that if Ukraine withstands those imperial ambitions of Russia, then Russia will have to stop those imperial ambitions”.

Duda listed countries where Russia has attempted to force influence, including Georgia, Moldova and Syria.

“Simply speaking, Russia is this kind of empire who has got colonial ambitions. It wants to subjugate other nations and other countries. It wants to profit from them. And the best example of that is Ukraine today”, he added.