BY RT INTERNATIONAL
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said Ukraine made a major error by summoning Warsawâs envoy over remarks from a high-level presidential staffer, who suggested Kiev should be more grateful for the vast sums of foreign aid it has received.
Responding in a tweet on Tuesday, Morawiecki said the decision to summon the Polish ambassador âshould never have taken place,â noting that his country has backed Ukraine since the conflict with Russia erupted last year.
âIn international politics, in the face of the ongoing war, and taking into account the enormous support that Poland has given Ukraine, such mistakes should not happen,â the prime minister said.
âWe will always defend Poland’s good name, its security, and the interest of no other country will ever prevail over the interest of the Republic of Poland.â
The prime ministerâs rebuttal came just hours after the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned Polish ambassador to Kiev, Bartosz Cichocki, to discuss recent statements by the head of the international policy bureau within the Polish presidential administration, Marcin Przydacz.
Speaking to Polish broadcaster TVP, Przydacz defended the Polish ban on Ukrainian grain imports, arguing âit would be fitting for Ukraine to start appreciating the role Poland has played for Ukraine over the recent months and years.â
The Ukrainian government reacted negatively to the comments, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko saying, âthe statements about the alleged ingratitude of the Ukrainians for the assistance of the Republic of Poland do not reflect reality and as such are unacceptable.â
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidentâs administration, Andrey Sibiga, also condemned the âunfounded claimsâ that Kiev does not appreciate its neighborâs help.
Polish Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski rejected the criticisms from Kiev, insisting his countryâs policies are guided by Polish interests, while stressing the large amounts of assistance given to Ukraine over the last year.
With the EU slashing quotas and tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural exports to bolster the countryâs economy earlier in the conflict with Moscow, cheap grain has spilled into the EUâs common market, prompting protests from farmers in Eastern Europe. Five members of the bloc, including Poland, initially ramped up their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain, though the EU as a whole later followed suit with a formal ban.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has urged Brussels to lift the restrictions by September 15, calling the policy âun-European,â while Prime Minister Denis Shmigal also singled out Polandâs position as âunfriendly and populist…
