Ukraine, Poland need each other, says Ukrainian FM
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Friday that Ukraine was ready for an equal partnership with Poland, adding that the two countries needed one another both for European integration and regional security.
"We, as Ukraine, are ready for an equal, honest, and mutually beneficial partnership because we need each other both on the path to membership in the European Union and in the security sphere," Sybiha was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine agency after a ceremony to raise the Crimean Tatar flag outside Ukraine's foreign ministry
"It is obvious that the security of Ukraine is also the security of Poland. This is an absolute paradigm," he said, reflecting on the present circumstances concerning Poland.
Sybiha further said Kyiv's commitment to strengthening ties with Warsaw was demonstrated by the participation of a Ukrainian delegation led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in the Ukraine Recovery Conference held in Gdansk, northern Poland.
He added that diplomatic channels remained open and that work was continuing on bilateral documents, future steps and possible high-level contacts.
"Yes, our bilateral relations can now be characterised by a certain state of crisis, so we need to move forward," Sybiha said. He pointed to significant progress over the past year and a half in addressing difficult issues, particularly those related to the two countries' shared history.
Sybiha also urged both sides to set aside emotions, arguing that tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw served only Russia's interests.
"Ukraine is part of the European space. History shows that difficult pages of history, difficult moments of mutual relations occurred in every country on the European continent," he said, adding this was what the geopolitical reality looked like.
"But, on the other hand, any tensions, any negative trends in development play into the hands of Moscow. And this is exactly the case with Poland," Sybiha concluded.
The current crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations had been caused by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to name one of Ukraine's military units after the "Heroes of the UPA." This triggered sharp criticism in Poland. Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, which he received from former president Andrzej Duda in April 2023.
The issue of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) remains one of the deepest historical disputes between Poland and Ukraine, with the two countries holding sharply contrasting views of the wartime nationalist movement. Poland considers the UPA responsible for the brutal mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945. In Ukraine, however, the group is widely regarded as a nationalist resistance movement that fought for independence against Soviet rule. (PAP)
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