(Warsaw) Warsaw will ask for additional security guarantees for Ukraine at the next NATO summit this summer in Vilnius, the Polish president said during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, in official visit to Warsaw.
“We are trying to obtain for Ukraine […] additional security guarantees that will strengthen its military potential, which will also strengthen the sense of security of the Ukrainian people,” Andrzej Duda said.
“I am convinced that we will be able to obtain such guarantees for Ukraine, as a prelude to its full membership of the Atlantic Alliance in the future,” he added.
The Polish President announced that his country was ready to deliver to Kyiv, “in the future”, its entire fleet of Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighters.
Poland, which has already delivered eight MiG-29s to Ukraine and will send six more in the near future, will “in the future be able to transfer its entire fleet of MiGs to Ukraine”, i.e. at a total of around 30 aircraft, “with the agreement of its NATO allies”, said Andrzej Duda.
He also said that Poland had already supplied Ukraine with about 300 tanks, including 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks, as well as many other equipment.
The Ukrainian head of state, for his part, reaffirmed his country’s firm desire to join NATO.
“I would like to say to our partners, who are constantly looking for compromises on our way to NATO, that Ukraine will be intransigent on this point,” Zelensky said.
He added that “an important aid program that will strengthen our people” was decided during the visit.
“In the trenches of Mariinka and Avdiivka there are our people, real warriors. I want to thank you for this powerful defense program, which will strengthen our fighters,” he said.
Referring to the situation on the ground, the Ukrainian President stressed that “the enemy has not taken control” of the city of Bakhmout.
“For me, the most important thing is not to lose our soldiers. If there is a risk of losing personnel due to the siege (of Bakhmut), then of course there will be proper and correct decisions taken by General (Oleksandr) Syrskyi on the spot,” he said. .
The Ukrainian President thanked his Polish partner for its “unwavering support” on Ukraine’s path to the European Union.
“We got candidate status thanks to many partners, but especially thanks to Poland,” he said.
Mr. Zelensky said on this occasion that it was “important that Poland be one of the main partners in the reconstruction of Ukraine” after the war.
The Ukrainian president warmly thanked the Poles for the welcome extended to millions of refugees.
“I will never tire of thanking ordinary Poles who have helped ordinary Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine will never forget your human attitude.” Poland, a neighboring country of Ukraine, is one of the states most committed to aid in Kyiv since the Russian invasion which began in February 2022 and serves in particular as a logistics platform for deliveries of military and humanitarian aid.
Mr. Zelensky was yet to meet Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, while in the evening he will address Poles and Ukrainians living in Poland.
This is the first official visit of the Ukrainian president to Poland since the start of the war in February 2022.
In all, the two heads of state met six times during this period of war, including twice during working meetings in Poland, on the border between the two countries.
Warsaw is the fifth world capital visited by Mr. Zelensky since the beginning of the Russian invasion of his country, after Washington, London, Paris and Brussels.
