On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would like to meet his Polish counterpart – a meeting that still hasn’t happened even though Polish President Karol Nawrocki has been in office since August.
“Regarding the president of Poland, I would be pleased to meet with him. I have invited him and said: Please choose any date you wish. Whatever date you choose, I would be happy to meet,” Zelensky said in London.
“I need a date and then, if the president [Nawrocki] – officially or unofficially, as he wishes – invites me and proposes a date, I will, of course, come on an official visit to Poland. This is important to me,” he added.
This can be seen as a response to remarks by Nawrocki, who on Dec. 3 at the airport in Rzeszów – Poland’s logistical hub for Ukraine – said he expects gratitude from Zelensky for Poland’s support.
“I demand symmetry in relations with Ukraine and expect President Volodymyr Zelensky to express gratitude to Polish soldiers and the Polish nation for the support he receives from our country,” he said.
Radosław Sikorski, who is competing politically with Nawrocki, also commented on the matter. The deputy prime minister and foreign minister said on RMF FM on Dec. 5 that he is disgusted by the remarks.
“The pushy demand for apologies and tributes at a moment when they are fighting for their lives makes me feel disgust, but on the other hand President Zelensky’s crown would not fall off if, driving through Poland, he asked for a visit to the Presidential Palace,” Sikorski said.
Relations with Ukraine have become part of the Polish domestic political debate, and the topic of the two presidents’ failure to meet keeps returning like a boomerang.
Behind the scenes
Initial preparations for a meeting on the Polish side began shortly after new staff began work at the Chancellery of the President of Poland, but – as Kyiv Post sources say – the idea of a trip to Kyiv was quickly abandoned.
Nawrocki’s circle resents Zelensky, among other things, for remarks he made in January in an interview for Polish media during the presidential campaign, in which he said that “(Nawrocki) will not face political competitions, but will be fighting for his life” if Ukraine loses.
Judging by the Ukrainian president’s facial expression, one could get the impression that he did not know who Nawrocki was.
Subsequent invitations concerned Warsaw, where, at Nawrocki’s initiative, a meeting was held with leaders of the Baltic states and Denmark, in which Zelensky was the only one who joined online. In the following months, “Gazeta Wyborcza” reported that Nawrocki had been invited to Kyiv and should visit Ukraine’s capital first due to his shorter time in office, citing protocol.
The thing is, there is no such provision in the protocol.
What is this about?
The problem is the politicization of relations with Ukraine in Poland, stemming both from certain statements by Ukrainian politicians, including the president, and from the widespread assessment that exhumation work in Volhynia is progressing very slowly.
Growing skepticism toward Ukraine is effectively exploited by far-right parties. One of the reasons for the frosty relations between the presidents – aside from earlier misunderstandings – is Nawrocki’s desire to win the sympathy of a part of the electorate.
Moreover, Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government remain on good terms, despite Nawrocki’s opposition to Tusk. If the meeting hasn’t taken place, it suggests neither side currently sees a need to push for it.
When that need arises, the question will be which side cares more.
Polish-Ukrainian relations are currently asymmetrical to Poland’s advantage, although it is not clear which side will “hold the cards” in the future. Polish assistance to Ukraine was very significant, but has since been substantially reduced. Still, as a hub, a key economic partner, an EU member state, and a country hosting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Poland has a lot to offer.
On the other hand, due to the internal conflict between Tusk’s government and the president, and an unclear foreign policy subordinated to domestic moods, Poland is not participating in peace talks to the extent of its ambitions. Nawrocki’s good relations in Washington and Tusk’s closeness to the EU are bringing little for now. It seems Finland, under President Alexander Stubb, currently has a greater impact.
What next?
There are voices calling for a new opening.
But according to high-ranking sources in the Ukrainian administration, there are no such plans for now. Instead, there are statements about the need to live with what we have today and will have tomorrow, rather than focusing on what happened yesterday, and about building a future for our children, as neighbors should.
It is unclear what the situation will look like after the upcoming changes in the Ukrainian administration and the selection of a successor to Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s former chief of staff, who resigned.
Poland clearly needs a strong gesture that could open the door for Polish politicians to engage in closer cooperation with their Ukrainian partners. In the Polish debate, the politics of dignity – historical and symbolic – is essential. If authorities in Kyiv recognized that this is how Warsaw defines its need for assertive actions, they could benefit greatly.
Granting permission for exhumations in Volhynia would carry no political or financial cost for Ukraine and could improve the political atmosphere. This is not the only dimension of relations with Ukraine, but it touches on aspirational emotions in Poland.
It is additionally strengthened by attachment to the politics of dignity, history, and symbolism. This is particularly evident among young people, for whom Poland’s current status is something taken for granted. Hence, there are demands for reparations from Germany or for a monument to Polish victims of WWII in Berlin.
“We are in ongoing contact with the Ukrainian side, we are talking about the possibility of a meeting, about a specific date. The meeting may happen fairly soon, but a convenient date has to be agreed for both sides,” Marcin Przydacz, secretary of state and head of the International Policy Bureau of President Nawrocki, said on TOK FM.
Time and the dynamics of these relations show that the future is unpredictable and sinusoidal. Polish-Ukrainian relations are specific. At the economic level, they are developing well, while politically – especially with President Nawrocki’s camp – they remain cool, despite clear support for Ukraine’s war effort and anti-Russian policy.
Additional chaos comes from Poland’s internal political dispute. Much will become clear with changes in Zelensky’s administration and further developments in talks or unpredictable events.