Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said Europe needs to show the same resolve and bravery in the face of Russian aggression as it did to defeat Germany in World War II.

In a speech at the Netherlands’ annual liberation ceremony, the former president of the European Council drew explicit parallels between Hitler’s invasion of Europe and the war in Ukraine.

Tusk made his plea for closer European and transatlantic co-operation in Wageningen, where the German forces in the Netherlands surrendered to the Canadian general Charles Foulkes on May 5 1945.

He said Europeans needed to show “solidarity – the most important word in my personal political vocabulary” – and not “turn a blind eye to the resurgence of evil”.

“This is already the third year that we celebrate the anniversary of our victory over the Third Reich in the shadow of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

“This makes all the difference as the war on the eastern border of the European Union lends a totally new context to those annual commemorations.

“War and destruction are back in all their monstrosity after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since 24 Febuary 2022, almost every single day of this criminal aggression is testimony to this. the list of places where people are killed is only growing longer.”

Auschwitz and the Gulag

Tusk commemorated the victims of Nazi and Soviet tyranny in one breath, mentioning “Auschwitz and the Gulags, the extermination of the European Jews and the Katyn massacre near Smolensk, where thousands of Polish officers were shot dead.”

“The time of Europe’s carefree comfort and joyous unconcern is over,” he said. “Today is the time of European mobilisation around our fundamental values and our security.

If we want to survive in this dark hour, we must stay strong and determined. We must once again become as valiant, as brave and as strong as the Polish soldiers who fought 80 years ago on your soil.”

Palestine protests

Later, just after prime minister Dick Schoof finished speaking a smoke bomb went off on stage. Schoof and Tusk were led away by security staff. No-one has yet been arrested for the incident.

Earlier five people were arrested as anti-war protesters interrupted a speech by defence minister Ruben Brekelmans. The demonstrators were led away after climbing over fences and shouting “Free Palestine”.

Brekelmans mentioned the incident at the end of his address, as he said: “I say to the people we saw here just now: we should stand together strongly and not allow ourselves to be divided. That is a duty we all share.”

A demonstration was also held by around 300 people against the presence of Dutch prime minister and Martin Bosma, the chair of the Dutch parliament and MP for the far-right PVV party, at the ceremony.

They unravelled an 80-metre long “red line” banner, symbolising Schoof’s responsibility for “a cabinet that is refusing to draw a red line against the large-scale violence being committed by Israel, despite overwhelming evidence of genocide against the Palestinian people.”