Poland’s Andrzej Duda was hosted by Austria’s Alexander Van der Bellen at the Hofburg Palace in the Austrian capital on Friday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The two presidents were accompanied by their wives, Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda and Austria's Doris Schmidauer, it said.
The Polish and Austrian president held private talks, followed by a meeting of the two delegations, reporters were told.
‘Russia’s aggression must be stopped’
At a joint news conference with his host afterwards, Duda said that a major topic of discussion was the situation in Ukraine and ways to support Poland’s southeastern neighbour in its fight against the Russian invasion.
The Polish president stressed that "Russia’s aggression must be stopped.”
He warned: “We perfectly realise that if Russia’s aggression is not stopped, it will pose an enormous threat to Poland and our part of Europe in the future.”
Duda declared: “We feel that those who are defending Ukraine today, are in truth defending Europe.”
Polish president calls on Austria to send more life-saving equipment to Ukraine
The Polish head of state thanked Austria for its assistance to Ukraine, which is restricted to humanitarian aid because of Vienna’s stance as a neutral country, the IAR news agency reported.
Duda said at the news conference: “Obviously, we respect Austria’s neutrality. At the same time, we thank the Austrian authorities for sending bulletproof vests and helmets to Ukraine.”
He added: “We appeal to Austria to provide more of this assistance as far as possible because demand for it is enormous in Ukraine.”
Duda and Van der Bellen agreed that the European Union must stand united in its response to Russia’s invasion, the IAR news agency reported.
'Cutting Russia off from money'
The Polish president argued that “cutting Russia off from money,” including through sanctions, could force President Vladmir Putin to "stop his war machine."
Duda said that the international community must “constantly discourage” Moscow from "continuing its aggression" against Kyiv, by “imposing economic sanctions, restricting financial flows, making it difficult for Russia to do business and by refusing to do business with Russia and in Russia.”
Russia 'must be driven out' of Ukraine
The Polish president also said that “Ukraine must regain control of its internationally recognised borders, which means that all Russian-occupied land must be returned to Ukraine and Russia must withdraw its forces from these territories.”
He added that “the free world has a duty” to ensure "that Russian aggression is punished and that Russia is simply driven out of the land it has seized in Ukraine,” Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Duda told reporters that this also applied to the Crimean Peninsula, which “Russia has occupied for nine years.”
“That’s how this war should end,” the Polish president declared.
Austria’s assistance to Ukraine
Meanwhile, Austria’s Van der Bellen admitted that “it was a mistake” to underestimate Putin’s “imperial ambitions,” the PAP news agency reported.
He said Austrian authorities and NGOs alike were providing Ukraine with humanitarian support in a variety of ways.
The Austrian president added that his country had helped renovate some Ukrainian schools and hospitals destroyed by Russian attacks, as well as donating generators.
Van der Bellen told the news conference that the Austrian authorities were considering a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky to help clear Ukraine of Russian mines.
The Austrian head of state declared that his country “has the necessary know-how when it comes to demining” and pledged that he would “ensure that this issue is not forgotten,” the IAR news agency reported.
The two presidents also discussed ways to boost economic cooperation between Poland and Austria, including as part of the Polish-led Three Seas Initiative, which aims to boost infrastructure, energy and business ties among 12 countries between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas.
The Three Seas Initiative brings together Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Duda and Van der Bellen touched upon historical issues, including the memorialisation of the victims of the World War II Nazi German concentration camp of Mauthausen-Gusen, which was located in what is now Austria, according to officials.
Later on Friday, Poland’s Duda was set to continue his one-day visit to Austria by meeting Chancellor Karl Nehammer, parliamentary Speaker Wolfgang Sobotka, and Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations’ Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the PAP news agency reported.
Friday is day 415 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, prezydent.pl