Andrzej Duda made the remark as he hosted his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda in Warsaw.
The two heads of state met at the Polish president’s Belweder Palace to discuss Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, further assistance to Poland’s eastern neighbour, and energy security, officials said.
By supporting Ukraine 'we are building our own security'
At a joint news conference with his Lithuanian guest afterwards, Duda said: “We are supporting Ukraine and this is the path towards building our own security.”
He added: “It’s our wise policy designed to create a secure space in our part of Europe and to demand that international law is complied with.”
The Polish president said "it is obvious that if international law is respected, there won’t be a war, because war means a violation of international law.”
Duda stressed: “For these reasons, Poland and Lithuania are calling on Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, to retreat and withdraw its army from occupied Ukrainian territories, to cease this military conflict and for the primacy of international law to return to this part of the international space.”
Russian imperialism has been 'biggest threat to our independence'
The Polish president also told reporters that “in the course of our history, Russian aggression and Russian imperialism have represented the biggest threat to our independence.”
Referring to Poland’s decision to build a temporary barrier along the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Duda said there was “a real risk,” although “not a very high one,” of a hybrid attack against Poland, in the form of “illegal migration.”
The Polish president added: “Given the potential risk, it’s only natural that we are seeking to strengthen this border.”
Poland, Lithuania cultivate 'neighbourly ties'
Duda told reporters that Nausėda’s two-day visit to Poland was meant to coincide with Poland’s Independence Day.
He said: “The presence of our neighbours, of our friends from Lithuania, represented by their president, by the head of the Lithuanian state, on Polish Independence Day, has huge importance for building neighbourly ties.”
'We are strong together': Lithuanian president
Meanwhile, Nausėda thanked the Polish president "for his sincere friendship and cooperation that is bringing Lithuanian-Polish relations to yet another level."
"Our brotherly nations are united and strong, capable of withstanding any challenge together," the Lithuanian president stated, adding in Polish: "We are strong together. Razem jesteśmy silni!"
Poland regained independence on November 11, 1918, the day World War I ended, after 123 years of partition by Russia, Austria and Prussia.
One of the highlights of this year's festivities will be the opening of a new Mausoleum of the Polish Presidents-in-Exile.
Thursday was day 260 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
pm/gs
Source: PAP, wpolityce.pl, tvpparlament.pl