The new head of Polish diplomacy showed on Friday during a trip to kyiv his desire to put an end to tensions between his country and Ukraine, pledging to support it in its “titanic fight” against Russia.
Poland is one of Ukraine’s main supporters in Europe, but relations between these two neighboring states have been cold in recent months amid trade disputes. This page seems to have been turned with the recent coming to power of pro-Europeans in Warsaw.
The new Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski, made his first trip abroad to the Ukrainian ally to show him Poland’s continued support against Moscow.
“In this titanic fight, Mr. Minister, Poland is at your side,” declared Mr. Sikorski to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba, castigating a Russia which “bombs cities, destroys entire provinces, deports children and prepares to destroy a neighbor who has done nothing wrong.”
The Polish minister called on the European Union and the United States to “mobilize” their economy and their means of production to arm Ukraine, stressing that Russia had, for its part, “transitioned to a war economy”.
“We cannot allow Russia to produce more on the basis of a much smaller economy […] If the West mobilizes, I have no doubt about its victory but it must finally start to mobilize,” Mr. Sikorski told journalists.
He also considered that the “impasse” in which the situation was at the front – borrowing an expression of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, – was a “test” for the friendship between kyiv and Warsaw.
“New momentum”
While describing Radoslaw Sikorski’s visit as a “sign of friendship”, Mr. Kouleba said he hoped to find a “solution” to the main source of tension between their two countries: the blocking of the border by Polish truckers.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, emphasized having discussed military cooperation and “the establishment of joint productions” with Mr. Sikorski. The two men agreed to give “new impetus” to relations between their countries, according to the presidency.
Mr. Sikorski’s trip comes against a backdrop of crumbling Western support for kyiv, both in Europe and the United States, a trend the Kremlin welcomes.
As a reminder of the conflict, sirens warning of air attacks sounded during his visit, amid intensifying Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital in recent weeks.
“Russia must lose and Ukraine must win. And, on this issue, regardless of who will be in power in Poland, as you can see, we are united,” said the Polish minister.
Agriculture and commerce
Dmytro Kouleba welcomed the choice of kyiv for Mr. Sikorski’s first trip after his appointment. “It is a sign of respect towards Ukraine,” he said, insisting that their two countries have “a common enemy”.
Relations between kyiv and Warsaw have been poisoned for months by several trade disputes.
Polish truck drivers have been blocking border crossing points since the beginning of November to protest against “unfair competition” from their Ukrainian colleagues, which has caused Ukraine to lose hundreds of millions of euros, according to Kiev.
“The first thing to do is to unblock the border, because the situation in which our friendly relations find themselves, in the shadow of the blocked border, is unacceptable and harmful,” Mr. Kouleba insisted on Friday.
Another thorny issue is that of exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Poland, which caused the collapse of local prices there and pushed it — alongside other Eastern European countries — to establish an embargo .
“We must restore the conditions for fair competition so that everyone benefits from trade and transport. And I think what we said to each other can lead to solutions,” Mr. Sikorski said.
Hours before arriving in kyiv, Russia launched a new drone attack on the Ukrainian capital in which two people were injured.