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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the good relations with neighboring Poland. They stand on a sincere basis, “without quarrels and old conflict legacy,” Zelenskyj said in a video message yesterday. This is a historic achievement.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda yesterday became the first foreign head of state to address Ukraine’s parliament since the start of the Russian invasion. He spoke of the intention to conclude a Polish-Ukrainian friendship agreement. Duda is also committed to ensuring that the neighboring country is granted EU candidate status as quickly as possible.
Joint Customs Control
Almost 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since the start of the Russian war of aggression. Poland has granted by far the largest number of the approximately 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine. Around 44 million people lived in Ukraine before the start of the war.
According to Zelenskyj, Ukraine wants to introduce joint customs control with Poland – this is “the beginning of our integration into the common customs area of the European Union”. In addition, Ukrainians in Poland were given “de facto and de jure the same opportunities” as Polish citizens. Selenskyj emphasized that he wanted to introduce a law in Ukraine to show “gratitude” and “respect”.
“Resolve Disputes”
Zelenskyy also spoke of a new neighborhood policy with other countries that he wants: “We need to resolve disputes and remove the pressure of the past from our current relations with all of Ukraine’s neighbors who respect us and are not occupiers of our state,” said Zelenskyy.
In the evening he spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding, among other things, agricultural exports from Ukraine and fuel imports. Zelenskyj announced that he would like to hold bilateral talks with other countries over the coming week.