The meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Sept. 13 in Kyiv did not exactly go as planned. Sikorski demanded Ukraine finally allow the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre in World War II and warned against expecting a quick EU accession, sparking
"If someone says in this regard that they are going to block Ukraine's access to the European Union, they are following Vladimir Putin's policy. I don't know if this is the intention of those who are now in power," Polish President Andrzej Duda said.
The reasons for the cancelation were not specified. It is unknown if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda planned to meet elsewhere on the campaign trail.
"We could put it under a U.N. mandate with a mission to prepare a fair referendum after checking who the legal residents are and so on... And we could postpone it for 20 years," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski suggested as one possible option, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
Foreign leaders, including Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda, are convening in New York City over the next few days for the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations.
Speaking at a meeting of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar called for "enforcing the rotational air defense and integrated anti-missile model as soon as possible."
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk was detained and briefly handcuffed at Krakow Airport on Sept. 17 as a preventative measure, Polish border guard spokesperson Jacek Michalowski told Polish newspaper Dziennik Polski on Sept. 18.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced shortly after midnight on Sept. 18 that Usyk had been released following the intervention of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. "I was outraged by this treatment of our citizen and champion," Zelensky said.
Sikorski said that the law should have been passed when there were "many volunteers" to serve in the army, and "people felt personally threatened."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed that Warsaw has not yet participated in the project due to "temporary formal obstacles."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine's offer to help was "moving."
"We have to tell the truth, talk about the Volyn tragedy, about other mutual acts," Sikorski said, adding that Ukraine and Poland must choose a "common and secure future."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 13.
Speaking at a press conference, Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the perpetrators' goals were to "extort information, to blackmail individuals and institutions, and to wage de facto cyberwar."
Speaking from his own viewpoint, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland has the legal right to down stray Russian missiles and drones that enter Polish airspace. However, he acknowledges that Poland has not yet shot down anything and that Warsaw has not yet made a decision.
Key developments on Sept. 2: * Russia launches missile strike on Kyiv * Russia has no advance near Pokrovsk over past 2 days, Zelensky claims * Poland has right to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine for national security, Polish FM says * Dutch PM makes surprise visit to Ukraine, announces new aid package
Poland and neighboring countries to Ukraine are "responsible for protecting their own airspace," despite NATO's opposition, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Sept. 2.
Most Poles believe the Polish military should shoot down Russian drones that enter Polish airspace during aerial attacks on Ukraine, according to a survey published on Sept. 1 by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Speaking on Polish television in late July, Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz reminded Ukrainians that even his country’s overwhelming support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia has its limits. Ukraine could never expect Poland’s backing in joining the EU if it didn’t “resolve” the historical
Ukraine should become a member of the EU despite disagreements with Poland over the historical issue of the mass killings of Poles in Volyn in the 1940s, Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Holownia said on Aug. 31.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a press conference on Aug. 28 that allies advised Poland to exercise restraint when dealing with unidentified violations of Polish airspace.
Ukraine can only expect to receive additional Polish MiG-29 fighter jets once the country receives modern F-35 fighter jets as replacements, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Aug. 27, in response to President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for Poland to provide additional Soviet-era jets.
Russia is likely testing Poland's air defense system, Polish Brigadier General Tomasz Drewniak told Radio RMF24 on Aug. 27, after a likely Russian drone flew into Polish airspace on Aug. 26 amid a mass attack on Ukraine.
Jacek Goryszewski, a spokesperson for Poland's Operational Command, told Reuters that "most likely (the object) was a drone, and we assume so because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile."
As of 10:09 a.m. local time, at least three people were killed in Ukraine, and strikes were reported in Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kryvyi Rih, as well as in Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.
Piotr Lukasiewicz will replace Jaroslaw Guzy in Kyiv, appointed by the previous Polish government under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and started his tenure in December 2023.
"I have never had, and do not have, the slightest doubt that, through their united efforts and struggle, the courageous Ukrainian people will uphold their independence," said Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Warsaw ordered 50,000 155-millimeter shells from the South African company Denel Munition, a subsidiary of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in which it holds a 51% stake.
Sirens fill the streets. Police cars flash passersby with blue lights. The capital city pauses. But no one’s phone buzzes with alerts. No one seeks shelter. No one scans the sky for missiles. The scene is Warsaw, not Kyiv. Every year on Aug. 1, at 5:00 p.m.
Poland has come under particular scrutiny in recent days over the act of sabotage which is still being investigated, with a former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, BND, earlier this week claiming it could not have been carried out without Warsaw's support.
"What the Russian troops and Russian aviation are doing to Ukraine's territory bears the hallmarks of genocide and inhuman crimes. Ukraine has every right to wage war in such a way as to paralyze Russia in its aggressive intentions as effectively as possible," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz signed a $10 billion agreement with U.S. company Boeing for 96 Apache attack helicopters for the country's army, Polish media reported on Aug. 13.
(Updated: )
