After the talks, Sikorski said diplomacy requires patience and should be conducted away from political emotions.
"Diplomacy prefers silence and requires emotions to cool down," Sikorski told reporters, accusing the opposition of seeking domestic political gains by inflaming bilateral disputes to the detriment of Polish-Ukrainian relations and regional security.
According to Poland's foreign ministry, Sikorski and Sybiha discussed reducing tensions, expanding military cooperation and strengthening economic ties.
They agreed that de-escalation and the development of lasting mechanisms based on mutual understanding of history and closer economic cooperation were essential to fully realising the partnership between the two countries.
Sybiha said Ukraine remained committed to "equal and honest dialogue" with Poland and proposed a "package of anti-crisis steps."
Writing on X, he said the proposals included consultations between the two foreign ministries, a meeting of Polish and Ukrainian historians specialising in World War II, and an appeal to religious leaders in both countries to " leverage their authority in our bilateral dialogue."
Sybiha said Poland and Ukraine had made significant progress over the past year and a half in addressing sensitive historical issues, including resuming the work of a joint historians' congress and lifting a freeze on the exhumation of victims of wartime atrocities.
"Ukraine will continue to issue permits for search and exhumation operations," he said
He also thanked Poland for what he described as its unprecedented support following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and said he and Sikorski discussed joint business projects, particularly those designed to aid Ukraine's postwar reconstruction.
One of the main sources of friction between Warsaw and Kyiv is the legacy of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which Poland holds responsible for the WWII mass killings of Polish civilians in the Volhynia and eastern Galicia regions, then part of German-occupied Poland.
Poland classifies the massacres as genocide, while many Ukrainians regard the UPA as a symbol of the country's struggle for independence and postwar resistance to Soviet rule.
Sikorski said historical reconciliation was important.
"One of the differences between Ukraine and Russia is that Russia still honours Lenin with monuments, while Ukraine has removed them," he said. "We hope Ukraine will show us that its heroes are figures we can all agree on, not ones that divide us."
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said resolving historical disputes in line with European values was an important element of Ukraine's path toward European Union membership.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had received signals that Ukrainian leaders recognised the need to reduce tensions and engage in "an honest dialogue" about the past.
"I am convinced that good Polish-Ukrainian relations are in the interest of both countries, but they require goodwill from Kyiv as well," Tusk said.
He also urged members of Poland's delegation to next week's NATO summit in Ankara to be "cautious about making new financial commitments to Ukraine," arguing that Poland already bears a disproportionate burden in securing NATO's and the EU's eastern frontier.
"Ukraine is fighting, but Poland carries the main burden of protecting the eastern border of the European Union," Tusk said. "That must be taken into account."
The historical feud between Warsaw and Kyiv intensified after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in May named a military unit in honour of the "Heroes of the UPA."
Polish leaders, including President Karol Nawrocki, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Sikorski, criticised the move.
Nawrocki responded by stripping Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state honour, which had been awarded to him by former President Andrzej Duda in 2023.
Zelensky returned the decoration to Warsaw the following day, according to media reports.
The dispute deepened further after Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday approved legislation establishing a "National Pantheon" to commemorate figures regarded in the country as national heroes.
The law allows for the inclusion of members of groups such as the UPA and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), both of which Poland holds responsible for wartime crimes, including the ethnic cleansing and mass killing of Polish civilians.
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Source: IAR, PAP