WARSAW — Trading his signature olive-green sweatshirt for a extra formal black one, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine used to be welcomed in Warsaw on Wednesday via an army band originally of his first respectable consult with to neighboring Poland, one his nation’s staunchest supporters in its battle to repel Russia’s army invasion.
Although Mr. Zelensky has stopped off in Poland a number of instances since Russia started its full-scale invasion in February 2022, his present go back and forth is his first there to be enveloped in the pomp and formal pageantry of the Polish state. Arriving along with his spouse, Olena, he used to be greeted on the presidential palace via President Andrzej Duda, dressed in formal apparel, and an honor guard with mounted bayonets.
“I would like to thank the Polish president, the government and all Poles for the road we have walked together,” Mr. Zelensky stated. “We greatly appreciate your support. Never in history has there been such warm and close relations between Poland and Ukraine.”
In a rite on the presidential palace, Mr. Duda awarded the Ukrainian president with the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s oldest and absolute best ornament. Praising Mr. Zelensky and the “heroism of Ukrainian soldiers,” the Polish chief stated: “We have no doubts that your stance today largely saves Europe from the deluge of Russian imperialism.”
The consult with comes at a delicate time, with Ukraine gearing up for an anticipated spring offensive, the Polish executive underneath drive from farmers offended a couple of flood of Ukrainian merchandise, and rising, even though nonetheless minority, public give a boost to for a far-right political celebration that were extremely vital of Mr. Zelensky.
That celebration, Confederation, has toned down its prior to now strident anti-Ukrainian message, which ceaselessly echoed Kremlin speaking issues, however it nonetheless channels political currents at odds with the view of Poland’s mainstream events that Ukraine and its other people, greater than 1.5 million of whom are actually sheltering in Poland, deserve powerful and unwavering give a boost to.
Some farmers, complaining that Ukrainian grain and different merchandise have pushed down costs, threatened to carry protests right through Mr. Zelensky’s consult with to press calls for that Poland curb imports of produce from Ukraine. Poland takes in hundreds of thousands of heaps of Ukrainian grain every month for supply to different European international locations, however farmers say that a lot of this has stayed in Poland and threatens their livelihood.
Poland’s agriculture minister, dealing with intense grievance from farmers, resigned on Wednesday in a while after Mr. Zelensky’s arrival in Warsaw.
Marcin Przydacz, the pinnacle of Mr. Duda’s world coverage administrative center, advised newshounds that he and Mr. Zelensky would speak about “how to maintain the support of the West and the European and Euro-Atlantic unity that we have been able to achieve since the beginning of the war.” That harmony, he stated, had to be bolstered, “because Russian propaganda naturally tries to break up our cooperation.”
The Polish executive has proven no signal of wavering in its personal give a boost to, rallying different European international locations to step up their army help, together with fashionable German-made combat tanks and Soviet-designed warplanes. Poland not too long ago delivered on a pledge to ship MiG-29 opponents to Ukraine, the primary nation to offer such plane to Mr. Zelensky’s army.
Mr. Zelensky, keen to forestall any waning of public give a boost to in Poland, is predicted to make use of an deal with to the Polish other people later Wednesday to thank them for his or her lend a hand and repeat his oft-stated argument that Ukraine is preventing Russia now not only for its personal survival, however for the safety of Europe as an entire.
Ukraine has been in particular thankful to Poland for the give a boost to given to refugees, whose arrival final yr throughout their shared border met with an peculiar outpouring of generosity. He can even meet with Ukrainians now residing in Poland. About 10 million other people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine during the last 13 months, even though many moved directly to different international locations or returned to Ukraine.
Poland — which stocks a 330-mile frontier with Ukraine and likewise borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, an in depth Russian best friend — is not just a vital best friend for Ukraine, but in addition the linchpin of NATO’s japanese flank.
Shortly earlier than Mr. Zelensky’s arrival, the United States ambassador in Warsaw, Mark Brzezinski, joined the Polish protection minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, on the web page of an enormous new warehousing complicated for American tanks and different army {hardware} in Powidz, west of Warsaw. Mr. Brzezinski described it as “the largest single infrastructure project funded by NATO in 30 years.”
Instead of curbing NATO’s enlargement into the previous Soviet satellite tv for pc states of Eastern and Central Europe, one of the crucial primary objectives set via President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the Kremlin’s army onslaught on Ukraine has “brought Poland and the United States closer together for a common cause,” the ambassador stated. The United States Army final month opened its first everlasting garrison in Poland.
“Today we are continuing to expand on a lasting U.S. military footprint in Poland,” Mr. Brzezinski stated.