Duda and Zelensky held talks in the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów near the Ukrainian border, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Ukrainian president shared news of the meeting on the Telegram social messaging app.
He wrote: “On the way back home I met with the friend of Ukraine, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.”
Zelensky added: “We summed up the current year, which brought historical challenges, due to the full-scale war. We discussed strategic plans for the future, bilateral relations and cooperation on the international stage in 2023.”
He said: “Thank you for your unwavering and powerful support!”
Zelensky also posted a short video in which he can be seen being welcomed at Rzeszów Airport by Polish officials, before sitting down for talks with the Polish president, the PAP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, a statement published on the Ukrainian president’s official website said: “The heads of state summed up the year 2022, which brought extremely difficult historical challenges due to the full-scale war that Russia launched against Ukraine on February 24.”
It added: “Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Andrzej Duda for the strong support of Ukrainians from Poland and its citizens. The leaders discussed strategic plans for the future, the agenda of bilateral relations and cooperation at the international level in the coming year.”
The statement went on to say that the two presidents "touched upon a wide range of topics with an emphasis on strengthening the defense capabilities of the Ukrainian state and humanitarian issues, which are extremely important, in particular, for Ukrainian temporary migrants who were forced to leave Ukraine to escape the war.”
The private meeting between Duda and Zelensky and subsequent talks between Polish and Ukrainian officials, led by the two presidents, lasted two hours, the Polish presidential office said.
Ukrainian officials referred to Rzeszów as “a rescuer city.” It is an official title bestowed on the Polish city by Zelensky in May, in recognition of its role in helping Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion of their country, according to PAP.
Zelensky's visit to America
The Ukrainian president on Wednesday made a surprise visit to the United States, meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House and addressing a joint session of Congress as he seeks to secure more military assistance for his country to repel the Russian invasion.
It was Zelensky's first known foreign trip since Russia invaded Ukraine more than 300 days ago.
Poland has now become the second country to be visited by Zelensky since February 24, the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday is day 302 of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, prezydent.pl, president.gov.ua