In his interview with Polish TV channel TVN24, Polish President Andrzej Duda said he could not hold the announced meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy due to a tight schedule.
President Duda said that when he was supposed to meet with Zelenskyy, he was standing on the rostrum of the United Nations General Assembly and delivering a speech.
At the same time, Duda added that the meeting could have occurred later “if the Ukrainian side had made such a demand.”
“As soon as there is a chance, I will definitely talk to him [Zelenskyy – ed.], but we will not talk in the light of cameras. As we have said many times before, we will talk face to face, as two friends who want to resolve difficult situations and talk,” President Duda said.
At the same time, President Duda said he considered Zelensky’s claim that Poland was preparing “a stage for a Moscow actor” with its unilateral grain import bans “unfair.”
“This dispute concerns a certain small fragment of our relations. Let’s not project it onto everything because only others will benefit from it,” President Duda said.
On 19 September, President Zelenskyy said while delivering his speech to the UN General Assembly that “some in Europe” are turning the grain supply into a thriller, in fact helping to “prepare the stage for the Moscow actor.” Because of these words, Poland summoned Ukraine’s ambassador.
On 21 September, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda met separately with the presidents of Ukraine and Poland and urged them to settle their disputes as soon as possible for the sake of the security of Eastern Europe.
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