Andrzej Duda was set to address the UNGA later in the day, as part of the General Debate, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Polish president, who was accompanied by First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, briefed Polish media on the plan for his three-day stay in the US.
Speech to UNGA, meeting with Biden
Duda said: “Today I will address the UNGA. Over the coming days, there will be the food summit, further political meetings, talks with investors and, as every year at the UNGA, a meeting with the US president [Joe Biden].”
The Polish president said the meeting with Joe Biden would take place on Wednesday.
Meetings with Shmyhal, king of Jordan, Bolsonaro
The Polish head of state said he also hoped to hold talks with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal “on the involvement of Polish companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Duda said he had already met with the king of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, discussing “the food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Russian influences in Syria.”
In addition, the Polish president held talks with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro, among other meetings, reporters were told.
Duda and Bolsonaro signed two Polish-Brazilian agreements, “on double-taxation avoidance and the protection of confidential information,” the Polish head of state told the briefing.
He added that he hoped Poland and Brazil would “strengthen cooperation in industry and agriculture,” among other areas.
Poland’s president said all the meetings also focused on the war in Ukraine.
“Obviously I stressed the need for compliance with international law, the need for Ukraine to regain control over its internationally recognised borders,” he told reporters.
‘Russia must be held accountable for war crimes’
Duda stressed at the briefing that those responsible for Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine “must be held accountable” and “brought before international tribunals” otherwise “other potential murderers will be emboldened.”
Annexation referendums ‘a joke’
Asked about the referendums on joining Russia, to be held later this week by Russian-installed authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine, such as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Polish president described them as “a joke.”
He said that Poles knew only too well what was the value “of referendums staged by Russia in areas under its occupation.”
“They’re worthless. The truth is, the result is decided at the Kremlin, not through voting,” Duda said.
He stressed that "Poland will not recognise the results" of such referendums.
‘Deploying nuclear weapons would breach global taboo’
The Polish president warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed nuclear weapons in Ukraine, “this would be a breach of a global taboo and in my view, it would cast Russia outside of everything.”
Asked about rumours that Putin would order mobilisation in Russia later on Tuesday, Duda urged “a calm and consistent approach” whatever the Russian leader would say.
He added that “regardless of what Vladimir Putin will say, there is no question that Russia is the perpetrator, the assailant, the aggressor here, while Ukrainians are only defending their sovereignty, independence, defending their land and their homes.”
Tuesday was day 209 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, wnp.pl