Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop insulting Poland in the way he did during a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York last week.
Speaking in Świdnik in eastern Poland over the weekend, Morawiecki responded to the disparaging remarks made by Zelensky at the UN General Assembly where he criticized neighboring EU member states for blocking Ukrainian grain exports and accused them of siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I want to tell President Zelensky to never insult the Poles again. Poles will not stand for it, and defending the good name of my country is my duty and the most important task facing any Polish government,” Morawiecki said. “We will defend our interest in the geopolitical realities and will not apologize for that,” he added.
The Polish leader said his country understands that the war in Ukraine is a battle for the security of Europe and that Poland has assisted Ukraine at every turn and will continue to do so despite focusing on its own rearmament. “We may be arming ourselves now, but the hub in Rzeszów is working and will continue to work with the help of our allies”, he said.
Relations between Poland and Ukraine have nosedived in the past few weeks as a result of the controversy regarding Ukrainian grain. Russia’s blocking of grain transports across the Black Sea led to Ukraine’s neighboring states being used as the main routes for the transit of Ukrainian grain.
However, instead of proceeding to places outside of the EU, the grain often flooded the markets of neighboring states, such as Poland, leading to the destabilization of markets. This resulted in the European Commission embargo on Ukrainian grain that was in force until Sept. 15.
The Polish government enforced a unilateral ban on Ukrainian grain the following day in the wake of the European Commission’s decision to lift the embargo. Kyiv reacted by suing Poland and other EU states in the WTO.
