Zelensky hails “very positive” first meeting with Poland’s Nawrocki

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met with his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki for the first time since Nawrocki took office in August.

While Nawrocki has taken a less friendly approach towards Kyiv than his predecessor, Andrzej Duda, today he declared that his meeting with Zelensky was “a sign that we are together” and was “bad news for Moscow”, their common enemy.

The Polish president said that he was “optimistic” about “building good neighbourly relations”, while Zelensky likewise said that he “feels very positive” following the talks, which he believes can “open a new stage in relations”.

After arriving in Warsaw on Thursday evening, Zelensky met with Nawrocki at the presidential palace on Friday morning – first for one-on-one talks before moving to broader discussions involving their respective delegations.

Speaking afterwards at a joint press conference, Nawrocki said that Zelensky’s “visit is proof that, on strategic issues of security cooperation, Poland, Ukraine, the countries of the region and countries steeped in democratic values ​​are united, and this has never been in doubt”.

In particular, he identified “neo-imperialist” Russia as a shared threat, including through its “hybrid operations” against Poland that have included airspace violations and acts of sabotage against infrastructure.

Nawrocki, who is a close ally of Donald Trump, also emphasised that “peace [between Russia and Ukraine] will not be achieved without the involvement” of the US president. “Donald Trump is the only leader in the world ready to force Vladimir Putin to sign a peace agreement.”

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Nawrocki noted that Poland was one of the strongest international supporters of Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, providing extensive humanitarian and military aid.

However, he said that “Poles have the impression that our efforts and assistance to Ukraine were not properly appreciated or understood” and that he had conveyed this to Zelensky during their “tough, honest, yet very pleasant and gentlemanly conversation”.

The Polish president also noted that their talks had encompassed closer economic cooperation, including the involvement of Polish firms in the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine and Poland’s aims to act as a hub supplying natural gas to Ukraine and other neighbouring countries.

Speaking after Nawrocki, Zelensky thanked his host for the invitation and also “thanked the entire Polish nation for its support for Ukraine, for Ukrainians, since the beginning of the invasion”.

“I sincerely hope that this visit opens a new, even more meaningful stage in our relations,” said Zelensky. “Ukrainian independence and Polish independence are the foundation that enables every nation in our part of Europe to live freely – without Moscow’s rule.”

“That is why it is essential that we cooperate, support one another, and coordinate our efforts to defend Europe and our nations,” he added, noting that Ukraine is providing Poland with technology and know-how relating in particular to drone defence.

Both presidents also touched upon the difficult legacy of massacres during World War Two in which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 ethnic Poles. The issue has long soured otherwise strong relations between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Earlier this year, the two countries announced a diplomatic breakthrough that would allow the resumption of exhumations of the remains of tens of thousands of victims that remained buried in unmarked graves in Ukraine.

However, progress has been slow so far, with most of Poland’s exhumation requests not yet approved by Ukraine. The heads of both countries’ Institutes of National Remembrance attended today’s talks, and Nawrocki urged them to push ahead on the issue.

Zelensky, meanwhile, said that he would “continue to support” exhumations. “Each of the victims deserves our Christian respect. We should reach an understanding in this regard and commemorate these victims in an appropriate manner.”

During his election campaign, Nawrocki made a number of comments that raised concern in Ukraine, including declaring that he “cannot envision” Ukraine joining the EU or NATO until the issue of World War Two massacres is resolved. After his election, he reiterated opposition to Ukraine’s EU membership.

In January, Nawrocki’s supporters criticised Zelensky after the Ukrainian president met with Nawrocki’s main rival for the presidency, Rafał Trzaskowski. They accused Zelensky of “brazen interference” in the election campaign.

Since coming to power, Nawrocki has also followed through on his earlier pledge to toughen requirements for supporting Ukrainian refugees, including by ensuring that parents only receive child benefits if they are in employment.

Additionally, the Polish president has proposed a law banning the promotion of historical Ukrainian nationalist ideology, which would be placed alongside Nazism and communism as proscribed ideologies. Nawrocki’s proposal was condemned as “unacceptable” by the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Marek Borawski/KPRP

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.