Status: 06.04.2023 07:10 a.m
During his state visit to Poland, the Ukrainian President Zelenskyj signed important armaments contracts. But an issue was also raised that has long weighed on the relationship between the two countries.
Volodymyr Zelenskyj stands in the courtyard of the Warsaw Royal Castle. The castle is a symbol, his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda had told him that morning: a symbol of the greatness of Poland, destroyed by the Germans and rebuilt from the rubble after the war. A monument of “not being defeated”. On Wednesday evening the President of Ukraine is standing here and talking about just that:
Is it still far to victory? No! One must not stop at solidarity. If the battle requires artillery, you must grant it. If victory requires tanks, their thunder must be heard on the front lines, and if independence requires an air force, then there is no need to wonder how Russia will respond to aircraft. It’s a fight for freedom, and you can’t win it halfway.
Don’t let yourself be defeated, that’s what Duda had talked about before. Since Zelenskyj had arrived in Warsaw in the morning, both presidents had demonstrated unity wherever they could. Zelenskyi had spoken of a Polish-Ukrainian friendship for centuries after Duda had greeted him with Poland’s highest military medal.
Coming to terms with a dark past
The war itself hardly happened then. Instead, fourteen months after the Russian attack, other issues came to the fore. Topics such as the pending processing of the Ukrainian massacres of Polish civilians in World War II, which Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also addressed:
“We had a very difficult history at times, and today is an opportunity to rewrite that history, based on the truth.” He also spoke to President Zelensky about the tragic murders in Volhynia. “We are trying very hard to get approval for exhumations.” Selenskyj was open. Just a few years ago, a Polish film about the massacres in Ukraine was banned. Now everything is different and everything will be different.
Poland wants to be the most important trading partner
After the war, President Duda promised that Ukraine would become more beautiful and more modern – after Ukraine’s victory. When it comes to reconstruction, Poland will hopefully continue to be Ukraine’s most important trading partner in the future, he emphasized – presumably also with Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and his business delegation in mind, who had visited Zelenskyj in Kiev the day before.
In Warsaw, the Ukrainian delegation signed contracts for arms purchases: Polish howitzers, anti-aircraft missiles and troop carriers for EU and US money. Lots of confidence, lots of optimism. Only in the evening during the speeches in Warsaw Castle did it become clear that the war had yet to be won.
“No ceasefire at the expense of Ukraine”
A quick ceasefire at any price, according to Duda, will not solve the problem and would only be at the expense of Ukraine: “We do not agree with that. Only Ukraine has the right to decide on its sovereignty. And the only condition that the leaders of world states should ask is the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.”
In any case, Zelenskyy said at the end, his visit to Warsaw was a further step towards victory.
After the Ukrainian President’s state visit to Poland
Martin Adam, ARD Warsaw, April 6, 2023 5:58 a.m