#Zelensky gives a long, emotional answer to #Poland journalist Piotr Andrusieczko asking about #Ukraine’s relations with Poland since 2022. It’s long, multi-threaded and subtitles are in Polish so I’ll just summarise the main theses he’s making:
He wholeheartedly thanked Poles and Poland, especially president Duda, for “being with us from the beginning”, taking thousands of Ukrainians home etc.
He quotes Duda saying that “Ukrainians are standing for our [Poland’s] freedom”
He says Ukraine and himself personally had (and he highlights the past tense) absolutely fantastic relations with Polish government ministers and president Duda himself.
Then he starts a rather emotional tirade:
“And then was the blockade. Look, there’s no business at the war time, it’s about survival. We had no export corridor! And then the problems with our neighbours started: Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania.” *”And they told me: let’s agree on a compromise. I was asking: what is the compromise? That not of us will survive, that we don’t export all of the grain? And I said: okay, we won’t sell the grain into Poland, but let us just transit it abroad.”
Changing topic completely (I highlight that quote below for a reason):
Zelensky says that Ukrainians’ attitude towards Poles is so enthusiastic and loving, that “even as Ukrainians saw there’s a conflict among the governments, they were defending Poles! Not myself, even thought I was defending their interests!”
He returns to business talk:
“From April to September Ukraine lost hundreds of millions of dollars, lost part of its harvest.” Then he says Ukrainian farmers were asking him how they can farm anything if their fields are mined, but they need to export anything to keep their business going. And that’s when the political relations started to degrade.
Once again he highlights he’s very grateful to the Polish nation but, he says, “I’m not some kind of pennant in the wind, I’m defending the interests of my country at war time!”
He says he simply asked Poles to let them export the grain, but they didn’t agree - and that’s not fair.
Zelensky then presents his interpretation of the change in policy:
“I’m sure it was a political decision of a government who felt it’s losing. I told them: you will lose on this policy, you will lose with your own people. Because people are suffering, and it’s not only about money. You say: compromise. But there’s law. All EU was against the blockade.”
He thanks Romania and president Johannis for helping them at that moment. He says Johannis presented himself as a “strong leader” who at the moment of difficulty, facing similar protests, said “first values, then prices” (in Ukrainian it’s “tsinnosti” and “tsiny” respectably, so it sounds much more proverbial)
Then he says Poland lost a lot due to halted exports and hopes for improvement of the relations in future.
