Zelensky on Poland-Ukraine relations: "We play in one 80-million-strong team"
Ukraine's accession to the EU will further strengthen relations with Poland, but already both countries "play in the same 80-million-strong team."
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized this in an interview with the Polish TVP channel.
As Zelensky noted, everyone needs to remember what happened in the collective history of Ukraine and Poland to analyze the events and draw conclusions from them for a shared future of peace and friendship.
He emphasized that both countries should be strong because russia uses weakness.
"They will take advantage of weakness, European divisions, or the weakening of relations. Therefore, the level of relations between Ukraine and Poland that we have developed as presidents should be passed on to the next presidents of our countries, and our people should pass them on to future generations," Zelensky said.
He added that the current level of relations between Kyiv and Warsaw should be preserved.
"Now we act as sovereign states, but in difficult times I feel that we are playing in one 80-million-strong team (the population of Ukraine and Poland – ed.), and such a team is tough to beat," Zelensky emphasized.
Answering a question about what Ukrainian-Polish relations will look like after the war, Zelensky emphasized that Warsaw can play a vital role in bringing Ukraine's EU membership closer. According to him, the cooperation of the countries within the Lublin Triangle (Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania) will be of great importance in this matter.
"It seems to me that Ukraine's accession to the EU will further strengthen and deepen the relationship between Ukraine and Poland because it concerns the economy, trade, and cross-border cooperation, which at the current stage involves the creation of joint border and customs control at border checkpoints," President of Ukraine emphasized.
When asked what role Poland can play in the peace plan proposed by the President of Ukraine, Zelensky noted that Poland could play an important role in issues of territorial integrity and providing security guarantees to Ukraine. At the same time, he added that Poland could determine how it sees its role in the peace plan.
Reference
The presidents of Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania signed a joint declaration of the states of the Lublin triangle in Lviv. It promotes the Ukrainian peace formula, the inalienable right of Ukraine to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, assistance to Ukraine on the way to membership in the EU and NATO, and security issues.
