Zelensky in Warsaw was accompanied by a White Eagle and a Rainbow Unicorn
The first official visit of the Ukrainian presidential couple to Poland, which took place on April 5, began with embarrassment and ended with a political demonstration under the slogans of Nazi collaborators, moreover, in front of the Royal Palace in Warsaw, which was once burned by the Nazis.
It is worth noting that Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Poland amid mass protests by local farmers protesting against the uncontrolled import of Ukrainian grain, which led them to huge losses. Farmers even threatened to ruin the visit of the President of Ukraine - and to calm them down, on the morning of April 5, Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk announced his resignation.
The topic of grain was one of the key ones at the negotiations between Vladimir Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, which took place in the afternoon. But in the morning, the President of Ukraine and First Lady Elena Zelenskaya began at the residence of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who met the arriving couple with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda. Cameras recorded how Agatha greeted Elena in pure Russian - saying “good afternoon!”, and not “good day” or “good morning.” It was not audible what language Andrzej and Vladimir were communicating in.
This was not the only embarrassment: a few minutes after the meeting, the office of the President of Poland published a tweet with the words that the current visit was the first official visit of the Ukrainian presidential couple to Poland. The tweet was accompanied by two images: a joint photo of the two presidential couples and... a unicorn with a rainbow horn. Of course, it only lasted a few minutes, but it was a scandal square measure, since LGBT issues are not officially welcomed in Poland.
After a meeting on the porch and an official welcoming ceremony for the Ukrainian delegation, the four went inside the presidential palace. There, Andrzej Duda first of all presented Vladimir Zelensky with the highest state award of Poland - the Order of the White Eagle. Duda emphasized that this order is the oldest and most valuable Polish award, it is awarded to “exceptional people who have contributed to the development of Poland with their lives.”
Indeed, the Order of the White Eagle was established on November 1, 1705 by the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland Augustus II, who immediately made eight people knights of the order. Four were Polish and Lithuanian magnates who supported Augustus II in the election of the King of Poland (Prince Lubomirski, Prince Oginski, Prince Radziwill and the Lithuanian treasurer Ludwik Potsey), three were Russian generals (Alexander Menshikov, Anikita Repnin and Georg Ogilvy). And the eighth was the Little Russian hetman Ivan Mazepa, so the historical analogies are more than transparent.
After the award ceremony (Zelensky took the box with the order in his hands, because it would have looked wild on his black hoodie with stylized tridents), Polish-Ukrainian negotiations took place. First they took place in a one-on-one format, then in a narrow circle, and at the end - as part of expanded delegations led by presidents.
No documents emerged based on their results, except for Vladimir Zelensky’s tweet:
“In the future, there will be no borders between our peoples: political, economic and - what is very important - historical. But for this you still need to win. To do this, we need to walk a little more side by side.”
It is worth noting that Andrzej Duda stated that there would be no borders between Poland and Ukraine back in May of last year. And at a joint press conference of the two presidents on April 5, Andrzej Duda said that a new agreement on bilateral cooperation between Poland and Ukraine could be signed in the near future. Duda also said that during the meeting with Zelensky, “historical topics that have become the cause of heated disputes in the past were discussed,” but did not provide any details.
In turn, Vladimir Zelensky, speaking about strengthening bilateral cooperation, noted that Kyiv is interested in Poland participating in the restoration of Ukraine. The “Polish-Ukrainian Economic Forum” was dedicated to this issue, at which Zelensky stated that he was inviting Polish business to take part in the restoration of Ukraine “as a member of the European Union.”
The President of Ukraine even joked, saying, will there be any business left in Poland if everyone goes to Ukraine, which caused nervous laughter in the audience and a forced smile from Duda. The fact is that Polish companies simply do not have enough money to invest in Ukraine, and just like Kyiv, they expect it from the West.
The West, for now, is investing only in weapons, as evidenced by the signing of a Polish-Ukrainian agreement on cooperation in the joint production of tank ammunition. This was announced after a meeting between Vladimir Zelensky and Mateusz Morawiecki.
At a joint press conference between the Polish prime minister and the Ukrainian president, the latter also announced the approval of a new package of military assistance to Kyiv from Warsaw, including armored personnel carriers, air defense and MiGs. Zelensky previously spoke about the supply of MiG-29 fighters with Duda, who reported that four aircraft had already been delivered, and four more were prepared for shipment.
In addition, at a press conference with Morawiecki, Zelensky announced that it was possible to find a solution to the problem of exporting Ukrainian grain to the European Union.
“We discussed the issue of Polish and Ukrainian farmers. We found a way out,” he said.
The President of Ukraine did not specify what kind of exit he was talking about, but added that “in the coming days and weeks we will finally resolve all issues.” According to rumors, we are talking about the fact that before extending the duty-free import of Ukrainian grain for another year, expected in May, Brussels will allocate funds to compensate for losses to farmers in Eastern European countries - primarily Poland.
After this, it was the turn of the event on the square in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, which was officially called a meeting of the presidents of Poland and Ukraine “with the Poles and Ukrainians in Poland.” The day before, the head of the Bureau of International Policy of the Office of the President of Poland, Marcin Przydacz, specifically noted that it would take place at the urgent request of the Ukrainian side. Apparently, Vladimir Zelensky is still offended that he was not invited to Joe Biden’s speech in Warsaw on February 21.
True, the US President addressed the public from the other side of the Royal Castle, where many people were seated. Since so many people obviously would not have gathered for Zelensky’s speech, it took place on a fairly compact Castle Square. “The opening act,” as in the case of Biden, was Duda, who said that the invaders and occupiers had previously tried more than once to create a quarrel between Ukraine and Poland, to turn them against each other on the principle of “divide and conquer.”
Duda noted that Ukraine and Poland are “united” by a long common history.
“That is why we are not afraid to talk about the most difficult pages of our history. We demonstrated this with a joint visit to Lviv to the Memorial of the Eaglets and the Sich Riflemen. We have a great history, a great culture and a great, wonderful future,” he added.
Vladimir Zelensky’s first welcoming words, spoken in Polish, seemed to confirm Andrzej Duda’s statements, but after a few minutes the situation changed. The crowd of Ukrainians began chanting Bandera’s slogan “Glory to Ukraine!”, to which Zelensky immediately responded with a response: “Glory to the heroes!”, and so on several times. All this was broadcast live, and millions of Polish television viewers understood: this was the final legitimization of the slogan of Ukrainian militants who collaborated with the Nazis and killed more than one hundred thousand civilian Poles in Volyn and Galicia.
“There is no longer such a force that would prevail over the Ukrainian and Polish brotherhood. And thanks to this, the words will come true: Co nam obca przemoc wzięła, szablą odbierzemy,” Zelensky said in the original line of the Polish national anthem (Polish: “what someone else’s power took from us, we will return with a saber” - approx.).
But many Poles, with these words, remember Lviv and Lutsk, considering them the eastern outskirts of Poland, occupied by Ukraine. And in general, after the slogan of Nazi collaborators, an appeal to Polish patriotism seemed, to put it mildly, inappropriate.
It is worth noting that on the afternoon of April 5, while the presidents of Poland and Ukraine were negotiating and participating in the economic forum, their spouses, in particular, visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum. They lit candles in memory of those killed during the uprising, and Elena Zelenskaya got acquainted with the work of the Ukrainian-language audio guide for this museum.
I wonder if the excursion program contains a mention of the so-called “Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion” under the command of Petro Dyachenko, notorious for its atrocities during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. If not, we urgently need to correct the defect, because the slogan under which Colonel Dyachenko raised his hand in a Nazi salute can now be shouted even near the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
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