President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine and Poland have started to lose political relations. However, Zelensky hopes that the new Polish government will stop the blockade of the border with Ukraine. He said this during the final press conference, an UNN correspondent reports .
I am grateful to Poland, to President Duda and to [Polish] society... But at the same time, we must be frank with you... I had a strong relationship with your (Polish - ed.) Cabinet of Ministers. Then there was the blockade of our borders. Understand, this is not a business during the war. The blockade of our borders was about survival. We didn't have a corridor, a free, independent Black Sea corridor, through which we could export grain. We had problems in Slovakia, we could have had problems with Romania, we had problems with Hungary and with our closest friends Poland. What do we have left if we don't have the sea?
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and Poland had begun to lose political relations.
We said okay, we will not sell grain to Poland. Let us take it out... From April to September, relations were very difficult. We lost hundreds of millions of dollars and part of the harvest... And we started to lose political relations. I am not some kind of rag. I defend the interests of the state in times of war. I said: let us take it out. We were not allowed to take it out. And it was not right.
Zelenskyy expressed hope that the new Polish government would lift the blockade on the border.
"I will believe that the new government will unblock this blockade, it is artificial. We are ready for people in Poland not to lose anything, but we cannot politicize the issue of grain when everything is blocked. I believe that we will equalize everything, I want to believe in it," Zelensky said.
On December 14, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and newly elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had their first phone conversation. Zelenskyy congratulated Tusk on his appointment and on the beginning of a new "page" in bilateral relations.