Zelenskyy and Tusk held talks on sidelines of EU summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a meeting in Brussels.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing "European Pravda".
Negotiations ahead of the EU summit
Bilateral negotiations took place before the start of the summit’s plenary session. The meeting was attended by a small delegation from both sides.
Representing Ukraine was Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and representing Poland was Agnieszka Bartol, Poland’s ambassador to the EU.
Context and upcoming events in Gdańsk
The results of the talks have not been officially announced. At the same time, this meeting took place against the backdrop of escalating historical disputes between Ukraine and Poland.
It is also significant in light of preparations for the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Gdańsk.
Recently, Polish sources reported that Zelenskyy may visit Gdańsk despite the disputes surrounding the issue of "UPA heroes." There has been no official confirmation of this yet.
It is known that the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland are also planning a public discussion in Gdańsk.
The scandal involving the unit named after the Heroes of the UPA
- Tensions in Ukrainian-Polish relations flared up after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on May 26 conferring the honorary title "Named After the Heroes of the UPA" on the "North" Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The text of the document stated that the decision was made with the aim of "restoring the historical traditions of the national army."
- On May 29, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced his intention to strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle — Poland’s highest honor, which had been awarded to him in 2023 by then-Polish President Andrzej Duda.
- Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa, in protest, demonstratively removed the pin with the Ukrainian flag that he always wore and accused Zelenskyy of "honoring UPA bandits," which, in his words, "offended him personally and all the Poles who were killed."
- Bartosz Cichocki, the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to Ukraine, officially returned the Order of Merit—which Zelenskyy had awarded him in 2022—in response to the same decision.
- Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau at the Office of the President of Poland, stated that Volodymyr Zelenskyy should personally call his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki and formally apologize for naming a Special Operations Forces unit "after the Heroes of the UPA."
