Zelensky is set to be accompanied by First Lady Olena Zelenska on what will be his first official trip to Poland since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Marcin Przydacz, a top foreign-policy aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said the two heads of state would discuss “the full range of Polish-Ukrainian relations, obviously starting with security policy."
Duda and Zelensky are set to hold private talks at Warsaw’s presidential palace, followed by a meeting of a wider group of officials from both countries, Przydacz told a news conference.
He said that the Polish side sought to ensure that “the discussions also focus on other issues of importance when it comes to the interests of the Polish state and the security of the Polish state, but also economic cooperation.”
Przydacz added: “We would like to conduct these talks in the spirit of thinking about the future, of laying out the reality of what may happen in terms of economic cooperation today and in the future, including in the context of how Ukraine will develop after the war, hopefully during integration with the European Union.”
Historical issues
The Polish presidential aide told reporters that Duda and Zelensky would also discuss “further political dialogue” and "certain historical matters that for years have been thorny issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations.”
He added that these issues “are very important to Poland and the Polish people, in terms of historical remembrance and respect.”
The two presidents are due to hold a joint news conference to brief reporters on the results of their talks, according to Przydacz.
Meeting with the public
Przydacz also said that the two presidents would make a joint public appearance outside Warsaw’s Royal Castle at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
He added that Zelensky’s visit "should be viewed as a gesture of trust and thanks.”
Przydacz told reporters: “We’ll definitely hear words of thanks, not only to the Polish government, not only to the Polish authorities, but also to the Polish people.”
He added that Duda's talks with Zelensky would focus on further support for Ukraine, "from both Poland and other foreign partners," and possible scenarios for the future, including “what may happen in eastern Ukraine, how Russia will continue to pursue its policy if it is not stopped, and ways to maintain European unity and the free world’s support for Ukraine.”
Przydacz revealed that Zelensky’s visit would start with a meeting between the two presidential couples, followed by political talks between the two presidents, while the first ladies, Poland's Agata Kornhauser-Duda and Ukraine's Zelenska, "will have their own programme of events, focused on the situation of refugees.”
‘Gesture of thanks to the Polish people’
Meanwhile, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian president’s trip to Poland represented “a gesture of thanks to the Polish people for how they have acted.”
Müller told public broadcaster TVP Info: “We are a solid partner for Ukraine. Poland has acted in an exemplary way in response to the greatest threat to the existence of the Ukrainian state.”
Ukrainian grain, military equipment, postwar reconstruction
The spokesman said that Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Zelensky would meet to discuss “certain challenges that exist between our countries, such as the transport of Ukrainian grain,” as well as Ukraine's planned purchases of Polish military equipment, including Rosomak armoured vehicles.
Other topics for Morawiecki and Zelensky will include the role of Polish companies in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, Müller added.
He told TVP Info that Zelensky’s visit to Warsaw would "underline Poland’s role in helping Ukraine over the past year,” as well as "pave the way for bilateral cooperation in terms of the purchase of weapons and economic collaboration."
Wednesday will mark Zelensky’s first official visit to Poland since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of his country in February last year, the PAP news agency reported.
The Polish and Ukrainian presidents previously held two working meetings in the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów, in December 2022 and February 2023, according to officials.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Duda has made four trips to Ukraine since Russia invaded, the PAP news agency reported.
In April 2022, Duda and his Baltic counterparts visited Bucha and other towns near Kyiv that had been ravaged by the Russian army; in May 2022, the Polish president addressed the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv; in August 2022, he attended the Crimean Platform summit in the Ukrainian capital; and in January 2023 he made a trip to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv for a summit of the Lublin Triangle of Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania, according to PAP.
Wednesday is day 406 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wp.pl