President Duda arrived in Kyiv on Saturday morning for an unannounced visit, the Polish President’s Office said on social media.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha said the programme of the visit would include a meeting with Zelenskyy and participating in Ukraine’s Constitution Day celebrations.
“President Duda stood by Ukraine’s side in the most difficult times of Russia’s full-scale aggression,” Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha wrote in a post on Platform X. Sybiha praised Duda as a “true friend of Ukraine”.
“We are grateful to him and all Poles who have shown true solidarity with Ukraine,” he added.
The Office of the President of the Republic of Poland also said that President Duda attended the celebration of Ukraine’s Constitution Day as the Guest of Honour.
During the ceremony, President Duda was honoured with the highest Ukrainian decoration a citizen of a foreign country can receive, the Order of Freedom.
According to a decree published on the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Duda received this decoration “for outstanding personal merits in strengthening Ukrainian-Polish international cooperation” and “supporting the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The Polish Interior Ministry also extended its wishes on the occasion of Ukraine’s Constitution Day in a message published on X.
“We express solidarity with Ukraine, especially in view of its heroic struggle for freedom and independence. We hope that the democratic values, which are the foundation of Ukraine’s constitution, can be restored as soon as possible in the currently occupied Ukrainian lands,” the ministry wrote.
This is the Polish president’s farewell visit to Kyiv ahead of the end of his term in August. President Duda, along with the presidents of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), visited Ukraine on the eve of the invasion in 2022, and again last August, when he took part in the celebrations for the 33rd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
In August, Duda will complete his second term as president of Poland. President-elect Karol Nawrocki has stated that he remains committed to helping Ukraine’s defence efforts, but opposes Kyiv joining Western alliances such as NATO.
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