Zukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday for his first state visit since the beginning of the war. His host, President Andrzej Duda, received the Ukrainian presidential couple and several Kiev ministers with military honors in front of his official residence. On Zelenskyy’s third trip abroad since the beginning of the Russian attack, both sides wanted to underline the common destiny of both peoples, it was said. Duda expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian leadership and people for resisting Russian imperialism, which is dangerous to everyone.
He thanked his own people for the “wave of solidarity” with which the Poles have accommodated around one million Ukraine refugees in the country to date. In a joint appearance in front of a crowd in the courtyard of the Warsaw Royal Castle, Duda recalled his visit to Kiev the day before the outbreak of war. At that time, Selenskyj said to him: “We may never see each other again.” He, Duda, contradicted: “We will see each other again often.”
Poland ready to surrender all MiG-29s in the future
Duda promised to work for Western security guarantees as a “preliminary step” to Ukraine’s NATO accession, which Kiev has repeatedly demanded. Poland has already delivered Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, four in the last few months, four others are being handed over, and six more are being prepared for handover. The remaining MiG-29s, some of them from former GDR stocks, are currently still needed by Poland.
However, Duda “believes” that one day he will be able to sell all the remaining MiG-29s. However, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Defense confirmed to the FAZ that the re-export of GDR MiGs would have to be approved by Berlin due to the “end-use clause”. “A Polish application is currently not available.”
Duda emphasized that Poland is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine in its defense against Russia and its “biggest economic partner”, who also wants to be involved in reconstruction. Zelenskyy spoke of future “projects without borders” and thanked Poland, which, more than any other partner, paved the way for Ukraine to be granted EU candidate status.
After Duda, Selenskyj met Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Both signed a preliminary contract for the purchase of 100 new Polish wheeled armored personnel carriers, which they also inspected. Morawiecki and Zelenskyj also stated that they want to solve the problem of oversupply of cheap Ukrainian grain on the Polish market together.
support measures for farmers
In the wake of farmers’ protests against Ukrainian grain, Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk, a veteran politician from the ruling PiS, resigned on Wednesday. The basic demands of the farmers have not been met by the EU Commission, said Kowalczyk. Poland’s government had announced that it would fight for the reintroduction of tariffs on Ukrainian grain, which was duty-free due to the war. Poland and four other eastern EU member states have demanded aid measures for farmers from Brussels.
However, according to Kowalczyk, the EU Commission has just presented a draft for the extension of duty-free and quota-free grain imports from Ukraine. The politician himself is accused of advising farmers not to sell their grain in the summer because prices would continue to rise. Then Ukrainian grain hit the market and prices plummeted.
