Zelenskyj: Emotions cool down
Ukraine and Poland summon ambassadors
8/2/2023 1:02 am
Statements by a Polish state secretary are causing diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Kiev. Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki accuses Ukraine of misconduct. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is trying to smooth things over.
In the dispute over statements by a Polish state secretary, Ukraine and Poland have summoned each other’s ambassadors. The foreign policy advisor to Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Marcin Przydacz, defended import restrictions for Ukrainian agricultural products on television on Monday – and in this context called for more gratitude from Kiev.
“Ukraine should start appreciating what Poland has done for them,” he said. As a result, the Polish ambassador was summoned to Kiev. He was told that Przydacz’s statements were “unacceptable”.
Warsaw, which has actually been considered one of Kiev’s most important supporters and closest partners since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine more than 17 months ago, reacted angrily: “In international politics, under war conditions and taking into account Poland’s huge support for the Ukraine not to make such mistakes,” wrote Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Twitter. Poland, for its part, summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw.
In the evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj struck a more conciliatory tone: “We will not allow any political snapshots to destroy relations between the Ukrainian and Polish people,” he wrote on Twitter. And: “The emotions should definitely cool down.” The freedom and well-being of both countries and standing together against Russia’s war come first.
The background to the debate and Przydacz’s statement is a Polish ban on imports of cheaper Ukrainian grain. This should ensure that grain prices in the EU country remain stable for their own farmers. However, the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products to third countries is unaffected by the import ban.