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Polish president not invited to Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Kyiv calls it 'internal matter'

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Polish president not invited to Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Kyiv calls it 'internal matter'
Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland, attends the solemn beatification of Fr. Jan Swierc SDB and Companions, Salesian martyrs, at the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Krakow, Poland, on June 6, 2026. (Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Polish President Karol Nawrocki will not attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Poland this week as he had not received an invitation, senior presidential aide Marcin Przydacz said on June 22.

"The president wasn't invited, so... he's not going to the event, to which he wasn't invited by Prime Minister Donald Tusk," Przydacz said during a press briefing, adding that none of Nawrocki's staff members are set to attend either.

The presidential aide said he hopes that during the conference, Tusk would focus on "Poland's interests, rather than just raising money for Volodymyr Zelensky."

The Ukraine Recovery Conference, co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland in Gdansk on June 25–26, aims to mobilize economic support and investment for Ukraine.

Preparations unfold against a backdrop of sharply deteriorating relations between the two neighbors over historical grievances.

The Ukrainian Presidential Office said that the issue of the invitation for Nawrocki is an internal Polish affair.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for us to invite the president of Poland to an event in a Polish city; it's an internal Polish matter," presidential advisor Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.

According to Lytvyn, Zelensky is still considering whether to attend the conference in person.

A diplomatic row between Kyiv and Warsaw broke out after Zelensky named a military unit after the World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), prompting Nawrocki to strip his Ukrainian counterpart of Poland's highest state award.

While Ukraine underscores the UPA's legacy of resisting Moscow's occupation, in Poland, the group is remembered chiefly as the perpetrator of the 1943-1945 Volyn massacres, mass killings of Poles in what is today western Ukraine, then under Nazi occupation.

Thousands of Ukrainians were killed in retaliatory attacks, with the Volyn massacres remaining one of the most painful chapters in the Polish-Ukrainian history.

The dispute is taking place a year before the Polish parliamentary elections, where Tusk's centrist government is set to face a challenge from conservative and far-right parties.

Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, called the Ukraine-Poland dispute a "strategic mistake," urging a de-escalation of tensions.

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Martin Fornusek

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Martin Fornusek is a reporter for the Kyiv Independent, specializing in international and regional politics, history, and disinformation. Based in Lviv, Martin often reports on international politics, with a focus on analyzing developments related to Ukraine and Russia. His career in journalism began in 2021 after graduating from Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, earning a Master's degree in Conflict and Democracy Studies. Martin has been invited to speak on Times Radio, France 24, Czech Television, and Radio Free Europe. He speaks English, Czech, and Ukrainian.

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