Poland’s Andrzej Duda, who is on a three-day visit to Ukraine, and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky also stressed “the right of citizens of all countries to decide on their future as a result of democratic elections."
In Belarus, which neighbours both Poland and Ukraine, protests have been ongoing since a disputed Aug. 9 presidential election that the opposition has denounced as rigged.
The declaration by Duda and Zelensky also confirmed Poland's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and annexed it after a referendum that Kiev and its Western allies say was illegal.
The Ukrainian government has been embroiled in a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Trade ties
The declaration signed by the Polish and Ukrainian presidents on Monday in Kiev also focused on trade ties, including "full use of the opportunities offered by the Polish and Ukrainian markets.”
Zelensky thanked Poland for being a "driving force "in bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union.
"Our strategic goal is full membership of the EU… We hope that Poland's presidency of the EU Council in 2025 will be conducive to achieving this goal,” Zelensky was cited by Polish state news agency PAP as saying.
Krzysztof Szczerski, chief of staff to the Polish president, said on Sunday that the joint declaration by the presidents of Poland and Ukraine would outline the two neighbours’ goals in bilateral relations.
At the start of his trip to Ukraine, Duda on Sunday commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Katyn massacre of Polish officers and intellectuals by the Soviets during World War II.
Duda also visited a monument to the victims of Ukraine’s Great Famine of 1932-1933. He honoured the millions who died by placing a symbolic basket with ears of wheat at the site, Ukraine’s Hromadske Radio news outlet reported.
Since 2006, the famine, or Holodomor, has been recognized by Ukraine and a number of other countries as a genocide of the Ukrainian people carried out by the Soviet government.
(pk)
Source: PAP
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