The Polish-German War has revealed the internal bankruptcy of the Polish state. In ten days of hostilities, Poland has lost all its industrial regions and cultural centers. Warsaw no longer exists as the capital of Poland.

By this time, the Germans had taken most of western Poland, but Warsaw was still resisting a German siege, and Polish armies were fighting the Germans in central and southeastern Poland; see Zaloga and Madej, Polish Campaign, pp. 131–138.

The Polish government has collapsed and shows no signs of life. This means that the Polish state and its government have, in fact, ceased to exist.

The Polish government was then stationed at Kuty, the high command in Kolomija [Kołomyja]; both cities were on the Polish side of the Polish-Romanian frontier; see doc. 6.

Therefore, the agreements concluded between the USSR and Poland have ceased to operate.

These are references to the Treaty of Riga of March 1921, which established the Polish-Soviet frontier after the war of 1919–1920; the Polish-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of July 1932, extended in May 1934 until 31 December 1945; and the Polish-Soviet Trade Agreement of February 1939; see DPSR, vol. I, nos. 3, 6, 10, 16. The USSR and Poland had also signed an International Convention for the Definition of Aggression in London on 3 July 1933, which defined any attack or support of attack on another state as aggression; see DPSR, vol. I, no. 7.

Left to its own devices and bereft of leadership, Poland has become a fertile field for all kinds of accidents and surprises, which could pose a threat to the USSR. Therefore, the Soviet government, which has been neutral until now, can no longer maintain a neutral attitude toward these facts.

Nor can the Soviet government remain indifferent to the fact that its kindred Ukrainian and Belorussian peoples, living on Polish territory, are abandoned to their fate and left unprotected.

For this justification, see doc. 3.

In view of this state of affairs, the Soviet government has directed the High Command of the Red Army to order troops to cross the frontier and to take under their protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia.

At the same time, the Soviet government intends to take all measures to liberate the Polish people from the disastrous war into which they have been dragged by their unwise leaders and to give them the opportunity to live a peaceful life.