A plaque honouring Polish President Andrzej Duda has been unveiled in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Earlier this week, the Polish head of state was paying a visit to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for the second time since the outbreak of the war opposing Ukraine and Russia. 

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During his visit, which was unannounced for security reasons, Duda repeated Poland’s support for the liberation of all parts of Ukraine currently under Russian occupation.

“Crimea is Ukraine, just as Gdańsk or Lublin are part of Poland, like Nice is part of France like Cologne is part of Germany […] All territories that were seized by Russia must be liberated”, Duda insisted while addressing the crowd in Ukrainian during the Crimean Platform summit.

Zelensky shared his bitterness regarding the most southern part of his country. “The Russian occupation has transformed Crimea, a truly Eden-like place for us, into a dependent and depressed region, into a region of high fences, barbed wire, and lawlessness, into an ecological disaster zone and a military base for [Russia’s] aggression,” he declared during the opening of the summit.

The Polish President emphasised that “Ukraine can count on Poland” as a war ally, but also once the war is over, the country will have to be rebuilt. 

Poland has been Ukraine’s main ally since Russia launched its invasion in February. Warsaw provided significant humanitarian, financial and diplomatic support to its neighbour in the last months.  

Poland has also been the primary destination for Ukrainian refugees, with around two-thirds crossing the southeastern Polish border. Several million Ukrainians live today in Poland. The Union of Polish Metropolises (Unia Metropolii Polskich) that Ukrainians make up around 8% of Poland’s population. 

Image: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen