Duda and Zelensky spoke on the phone after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Putin has since ordered Russian troops into the two separatist regions to carry out “peacekeeping functions.”
Duda announced his conversation with Zelensky on Twitter.
“I gave my assurances that Ukraine has full and cross-party support in Poland in its fight against the Kremlin’s aggression,” the Polish president wrote.
Duda added he told Zelensky that for Poland “the inviolability of borders is one of the fundamental tenets of international law.”
The Polish president also called for "tough EU and NATO sanctions” against Russia.
Poland condemns Putin's move to recognize breakaway regions
Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign ministry condemned Putin's decision to formally recognize the two Moscow-backed breakaway regions and called on Russia to refrain from any further military action against Ukraine.
Echoing an earlier tweet by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the ministry said in an English-language statement that Putin’s decision “amounts de facto to the Russian side’s rejection of the Minsk agreements, to which the Russian Federation is part."
"This aggressive step is yet another violation of international law by Russia," the statement said. "The decision taken by the Russian president undermines Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in an evident and unquestionable manner."
The Polish foreign ministry also said that Poland "expresses its solidarity and full support to Ukraine and calls on the representatives of the Russian Federation to cease illegal actions which constitute a flagrant breach of the fundamental principles of International law that Russia is bound to respect."
The statement urged Russia "to de-escalate and to withdraw its armed forces deployed around Ukraine’s borders, and to refrain from taking any further military actions."
The foreign ministry in Warsaw said that Poland and its allies "will take all necessary steps which are legal under the rules of international law to support the territorial integrity of Ukraine."
"The aggression by the Russian side will be met with a resolute and far-reaching reaction from the international community, including grave political and economic sanctions," the statement concluded.
‘Blatant violation of international law’
Meanwhile, European Union ambassadors gathered in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday morning to prepare sanctions against Russia, the IAR news agency reported.
On Monday, European Council President Charles Michel and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, condemned Moscow in a joint statement, calling the recognition of the two breakaway regions in Ukraine “a blatant violation of international law as well as of the Minsk agreements.”
They added that the EU “will react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act.”
Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau is on Tuesday scheduled to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels to meet with the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
The NATO chief on Monday issued a statement deploring Russia’s move.
Rau is later set to appear before NATO’s North Atlantic Council to outline Poland’s priorities at the rotating helm of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Poland’s turn at the head of the OSCE lasts throughout 2022.
US sanctions
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order that "prohibits new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in” the two breakaway regions in Ukraine, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
Biden’s executive order allows Washington to impose sanctions on anyone operating in those areas.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of the "so-called ‘Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics'” is a "clear attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the PAP news agency reported.
He later tweeted that "Kremlin recognition of the so-called 'Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics' as 'independent' requires a swift and firm response, and we will take appropriate steps in coordination with partners.”
Meanwhile, on Monday night, Ukraine’s Zelensky issued a message to the public, saying: “We are on our own soil. We don’t owe anything to anyone. And we won’t hand over anything to anyone.”
International community 'far from consensus': Polish UN envoy
Also on Monday night, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on the Ukraine crisis.
Afterwards, Poland’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Krzysztof Szczerski, tweeted that the international community was “far from consensus” on how to respond to Russia’s move.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration on Monday announced it was temporarily relocating its embassy operations to Poland from Ukraine amid a possible invasion by Russia.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters