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Poland’s PM: Ukraine’s war must be stopped now

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk addresses the media during an EU summit in Brussels, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014. European Union leaders have nominated Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to become the 28-nation bloc's new foreign policy chief for the next five years. The EU leaders also elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to succeed European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in December as EU summit chairman and behind-the-scenes broker of compromises among national leaders. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe) Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk addresses the media during an EU summit in Brussels, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014. European Union leaders have nominated Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to become the 28-nation bloc's new foreign policy chief for the next five years. The EU leaders also elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to succeed European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in December as EU summit chairman and behind-the-scenes broker of compromises among national leaders. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

By Associated Press September 1, 2014 1 min read

GDANSK, Poland (AP) – Poland’s prime minister says the anniversary of World War II makes it crucial to put an end to the war in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, chosen by EU leaders to be the next president of the European Council, spoke Monday at the Westerplatte peninsula on the Baltic coast, where some of the first shots of World War II were fired on Sept.1, 1939.

More than five years of brutal, global war followed, taking the lives of tens of millions of people.

Tusk said that “today, looking at the tragedy of Ukraine, at war – because we should use this word – in the east of our continent, we know that September 1939 must not be repeated.”

German President Joachim Gauck is to join observances later Monday.