Zelensky calls meeting with Nawrocki 'bad news for Russia'

by · UPI

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish President Karol Nawrocki discussed mutual concerns during a private meeting in Warsaw on Friday.

The meeting was the first between the two European leaders since Nawrocki was inaugurated as Poland's new president on Aug. 6, and they discussed security matters largely involving Russia, along with economic concerns and historical issues, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Zelensky said the meeting was the start of a new chapter for the relationship between the two nations and is "bad news for Russia."

"I very much hope that this visit opens a new and even more substantial chapter in our relations -- the relations between Ukraine and Poland, the relations not merely of neighbors, but of two European pillars without which there will simply be no freedom in our part of Europe, because there will be no security," Zelensky told media afterward during a joint press conference.

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"Russia wants discord, wants to destroy and dismantle such a strong alliance -- the alliance of two peoples of many generations of Ukraine and Poland," Zelensky said. "We will not allow them to do this."

He said Ukrainian and Polish independence deters Russian aggression in Eastern Europe but warned that Russia would continue into Poland if Ukraine were to fall amid the nearly four-year war there that began when Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

Nawrocki said Poland has supported Ukraine during the war and might exchange MiG-29 fighters in return for Ukrainian drone technology.

Poland's president has criticized Ukraine's desire to join the European Union and NATO, both of which Poland is a member state.

The two presidents also discussed the Volyn massacres of 1943-1944, during which Ukrainian Insurgent Army members killed tens of thousands of Poles in Nazi-occupied territory in western Ukraine.

Retaliatory attacks caused the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians, and the historical conflict remains a source of tension between Polish and Ukrainian leaders.

The meeting between the two presidents followed Zelensky's trip to Belgium, where he met with European Union leaders in Brussels and secured a $105.5 billion, interest-free loan for Ukraine.

The loan is in place of allocating funds to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets, which EU leaders considered but declined after failing to reach a consensus.

Zelensky said the loaned money will either help fund Ukraine's defense against Russia or support rebuilding the nation if Russia agrees to a peace deal and ends its aggression, The Independent reported.