Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his thanks in a Facebook post after a video call with Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Slovakia’s Zuzana Čaputová, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
‘I thank Andrzej Duda and Zuzana Čaputová for this important help’
The Ukrainian president wrote: “Since the first days of the war, Poland and Slovakia have been helping our army and those Ukrainians who have been forced to go abroad.”
He added: “I thank Andrzej Duda and Zuzana Čaputová for this important help and for lobbying the countries of the European Union intensely as regards Ukraine’s European integration.”
Zelensky's video call with Duda and Čaputová had focused on coordination of efforts to persuade officials in Brussels to grant Ukraine EU candidate status, officials told reporters.
The Polish president’s foreign policy aide, Jakub Kumoch, said it was "a very important conversation" during which the three heads of state “discussed the next steps to take.”
Diplomatic offensive
Duda also briefed Zelensky and Čaputová on his talks last week with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Italian head of state, Sergio Mattarella, Kumoch said.
The Polish president had sought to persuade the Portuguese and Italian leaders that Ukraine must receive EU candidate status as soon as possible, the PAP news agency reported.
Before leaving for southern Europe, the Polish head of state also held a phone call on the Ukraine war with US President Joe Biden.
Duda last Friday co-chaired a meeting of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group of eastern-flank NATO allies. During the meeting, he called on NATO to “significantly raise” troop numbers on the alliance’s eastern edge amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to officials.
The B9 group brings together nine countries on the eastern flank of NATO: Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia.
Video call with Lithuanian president
The Polish president on Monday also spoke via video link to his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda.
Kumoch said in a tweet that the two presidents discussed “efforts to grant Ukraine EU candidate status and the upcoming summit of the Three Seas Initiative.”
So far, the presidents of 10 Eastern European countries have come out in favour of a swift Ukrainian entry to the EU.
These countries are Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Mattarella said last month that almost all of the heavyweight EU members, apart from his own country, were voicing objections to granting Ukraine candidate status.
Monday’s developments came as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued for the 110th day.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl