2024-02-26 14:55 update: 2024-02-28, 21:10
Photo PAP/Leszek Szymański
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, expressed his hope that his Tuesday meeting with his Czech, Slovak and Hungarian counterparts would bring forth a more "unequivocal" approach to aid for Ukraine.
Tusk was speaking in the Czech capital city of Prague, after the meeting of the Visegrad Group (V4), the regional lobby comprising Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Rifts between the countries have grown of late owing to the position of Hungary and Slovakia towards the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Tusk had said that the V4 countries were united by history, extraordinary solidarity and fundamental European values they profess and that freedom, human rights, rule of law, independence of states formed the bedrock of the regional group.
"What we have enshrined in our declaration, in our hearts should apply to our common policy towards Ukraine," he said.
He added that within the V4 "there are somewhat different approaches" to this issue. "But we talked about how it is possible to work together to help Ukraine as a victim of Russian aggression."
According to Tusk, it is possible to "build, at least partially, such joint cooperation to help Ukraine", despite differences of opinions.
"I hope that after our discussion this support for Ukraine will be so much more unequivocal," he said.
Peter Fiala, the Czech prime minister, said that the leaders agreed on two things: "Russian aggression is a serious violation of international law" and "Ukraine needs help, we should provide it."
"Today's meeting convinced me that Visegrad is alive, working and we are able to accept our differences. Hungary is still ready to continue this cooperation," declared Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister.
He said that Hungary's position had not changed, as his country would not send military aid to Ukraine, but it would provide humanitarian assistance.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico aligned with Orban by noting that military support was not the correct solution to the problem.
"I don't believe we should support Ukraine militarily, I believe we should support peace talks," he said.
Tusk summed up the results of the meeting by saying that "there are different approaches to the Russian invasion on Ukraine, but I think at least fragmentary cooperation in supporting Kyiv is possible." Only the Czech Republic agreed with Poland when it came to military supplies for Ukraine.
Frustration in Warsaw with Hungary which existed even in the previous Polish government - a close ally of the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban - has surged following the arrival of Tusk's pro-EU government late last year.
Despite the war, Orban has been photographed shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has frequently been at odds with much of the EU when it comes to the bloc's Ukraine policy, much to Warsaw's anger.
Slovak Prime Minister Fico sparked controversies on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He stated that his country would not lend military support to Ukraine, and that the war had begun in 2014 with an "outburst of rage by Ukrainian neo-Nazis." (PAP)
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