Okay, I checked this. Napolitano said that a former Polish foreign minister said some idea about a protectorate had once been discussed, apparently in the context of Russia taking eastern Ukraine — not a recent statement by Morawiecki.
I can believe that all sorts of ideas might have been floated during a brainstorming session about how to respond to various scenarios especially in the early days of the invasion, even crazy ones (that’s how brainstorming sessions go).
I do not think Morawiecki stated this publicly as in that Tweet, as I cannot find it in any Russian, Ukrainian, Polish or German media. I can still read Russian okay (and about 60% of Ukrainian) although I’m getting rusty. German is my second language so I’m good there, but I have to run Polish through Google translate, so it’s fiddly and I can’t categorically state it’s not in any Polish media, but I sure can’t find it even using Polish search words. (Oddly, I can kind of understand spoken Polish, but not written, which is weird.)
We can say with certainty that Morawiecki made a series of statements covering a wide range of issues the were close in theme to the quotes on Twitter and Telegram about a Polish protectorate for Ukraine: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/poland-calls-more-western-military-211400963.html https://english.nv.ua/nation/poland-calls-for-more-western-military-aid-to-ukraine-news-50302506.html
I dont know where Morawiecki was when he made the remarks, or if a complete transcript is available.
We also know that the discussion of the establishment of a Polish protectorate by Polish officials has occurred in the very recent past. So it would not be a very big stretch if Morawiecki made protectorate proposals.
The New Voice of Ukraine only pulls quotes from the remarks. I am operating under the assumption that thus publication is an NGO stenographer for the US State Dept./DOD/CIA. So what we really have is an epistemological problem - if the stenographers do not publish it, was it ever said?
Here is the whole Twitter quote:
I don't think Putin would dare to attack a country that is a current NATO member. He is anything but suicidal. The western territories of Ukraine will be safe if they temporarily come under the protectorate of the Polish state,
My search results on any key words in this statement are Jankey - we all know that techs manipulate search queries. My results feel like that is what is happening.
Look, I get Ocams Razor argument here - that the statement cannot be found probably means that it didn't happen. But I'm not buying it.
The Morawiecki protectorate discussion is an anathema to Germany and France. It can be a wedge issue that cleaves NATO unity. Additionally, the American news consumer has not been prepared to digest that escalatory notions like this exist - it may reawaken an American isolationist / anti-war sentiment. So there is ample reason to spike this story.
I could be wrong. I am antiwar to my libertarian core.