Ukraine has cancelled meeting between Zelenskyy and Nawrocki, - Przydacz, head of International Policy Bureau
Marcin Przydacz, Head of the Polish President’s Office for International Policy, stated that Ukraine had declined a meeting between Zelenskyy and Nawrocki.
This is reported by Censor.NET, citing TVN24.
Details
According to him, the visit to Warsaw on 6 June by Ukrainian officials, notably the Head of the Presidential Office, Kirill Budanov, led to a proposal for a telephone conversation between Zelenskyy and Nawrocki.
However, the President of Ukraine declined the call because he "did not want to speak on the phone", said Przydacz.
"At that point, the Ukrainian side proposed a visit, and we set a specific date and time for such a meeting in Warsaw to discuss this issue. The Ukrainian side declined both this date and the visit itself, proposing a later, more distant date," he said.
According to Przydacz, the Ukrainian side "was not interested in a genuine discussion with the Polish president".
"Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side showed no willingness to change its approach to the convention on the naming of the OUN-UPA, and at the same time there were constant delays and the reversal of decisions," he added.
What led up to it?
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the country’s highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle, amid a scandal over the naming of an elite unit of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces after the Heroes of the UPA.
In response, a number of Ukrainian officials issued statements:
- The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, has declined the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in response to the decision by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, to strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle;
- The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, declined the Order of Merit of Poland;
- Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar also announced that he would return his Polish honour following the stripping of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle.
- On 20 June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the Order of the White Eagle to the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki.
- The second President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, the third President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and the fifth President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko also announced that they were declining the Polish Order of the White Eagle.
