Polish President Makes Farewell Visit to Ukraine, Receives Order from Zelenskyy

A farewell meeting was held in Kyiv between outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to posts by Zelenskyy and Shmyhal on social media.

Zelenskyy, speaking about the meeting with the Polish president, called him a special guest. 

"Andrzej has been with Ukraine since the first days of the war, always side by side, a reliable ally and a true friend. This is undoubtedly the level of relations that we want to maintain and strengthen with Poland... I personally thank Andrzej and the Polish people for their support, for their significant defence assistance and joint decisions for our and your freedom," Zelenskyy said.

He said that at the meeting they discussed the further development of Polish-Ukrainian relations, ‘the security situation in the region and possible solutions at the EU level and in coordination with NATO partners.’

"In recent months, we have been implementing quite serious Ukrainian-Polish agreements on defence cooperation. I hope that at the end of the half-year, we will be able to say that together we have taken a significant step towards strengthening our security positions," the president said. 

Denys Shmyhal said that he thanked the Polish president for his personal efforts to provide comprehensive support to Ukraine against the backdrop of Russia's armed aggression. 

‘We discussed the situation on the front lines, the strengthening of sanctions, the confiscation of frozen Russian assets, and further support for Ukraine from Europe. We are grateful to Poland and the entire Polish people for their unwavering solidarity and assistance during the most difficult times for Ukraine,’ Denys Shmyhal wrote. 

During the visit, Zelenskyy also awarded Andrzej Duda with the Order of Freedom ‘for outstanding personal contributions to strengthening Ukrainian-Polish international cooperation, support for state sovereignty and territorial integrity.’

Earlier, Duda expressed hope that his successor as Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, who has made anti-Ukrainian statements, will take a different view of Ukraine after taking office.

As The Gaze reported earlier, Karol Nawrocki, a historian and head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, has won the country's presidential runoff in a razor-thin race that may reshape Poland's domestic trajectory and its foreign policy, particularly toward Ukraine.