Ukraine summoned Poland’s ambassador in Kyiv to protest comments by a senior official who said the war-battered nation should be “grateful” for the assistance it’s received.
(Bloomberg) — Ukraine summoned Poland’s ambassador in Kyiv to protest comments by a senior official who said the war-battered nation should be “grateful” for the assistance it’s received.
The comments, made by presidential adviser Marcin Przydacz to a public broadcaster on Monday, were part of a defense of Poland’s decision earlier this year to ban Ukrainian grain imports in response to plummeting prices.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Poland’s ambassador, Bartosz Cichocki, was told that the comments were “not acceptable.”
“We are convinced that the Ukrainian-Polish friendship is much deeper than political expediency,” Ukraine’s ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a Facebook post Tuesday. “No statements will prevent us from jointly winning peace and building a common European future.”
The episode lays bare cracks in an alliance between Kyiv and Warsaw that’s otherwise flourished since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Poland at the forefront of European allies calling for weapons deliveries to help Ukraine’s military campaign against the Kremlin.
But Poland’s surprise decision in April to impose restrictions on grain imports — a response to weeks of demonstrations by Polish farmers decrying a glut — prompted protest from Kyiv. Przydacz defended the decision as part of a duty to protect Polish farmers and suggested that Ukraine should be happy with the support it has.
“Ukraine should be grateful for having received significant support from Poland,” Przydacz told TVP1.
The notion of Ukraine’s sense of obligation triggered a diplomatic spat last month. The government in Kyiv dismissed its ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, a week after he criticized Volodymyr Zelenskiy over remarks the president made about British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Wallace, speaking at the NATO summit in Lithuania, had suggested Ukraine show more “gratitude” for European assistance after Zelenskiy expressed frustration with his nation’s accession status in the alliance. The Ukrainian leader retorted wryly that his government may consider thanking Wallace directly every morning, a quip rebuked by Prystaiko.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry said late on Tuesday it also “invited” Ukrainian ambassador in Warsaw, citing statements made by officials of the neighboring country.
–With assistance from Maciej Martewicz.
(Updates with Polish Foreign Ministry ‘inviting’ Ukrainian ambassador)
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