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‘We must help Ukraine win war’: top Polish lawmaker

14.06.2022 14:30
A top Polish lawmaker has urged her compatriots living in Canada to build support in their local communities for war-torn Ukraine to help it defeat Russia.
Polands lower-house Speaker Elżbieta Witek speaks at a meeting with the Polish community in the Canadian capital of Ottawa on Monday, June 13, 2022.
Poland's lower-house Speaker Elżbieta Witek speaks at a meeting with the Polish community in the Canadian capital of Ottawa on Monday, June 13, 2022.Twitter/Polish Parliament

Elżbieta Witek made the appeal at a meeting with Polish Canadians in Ottawa on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

She said: “I urge you, ladies and gentlemen, wherever you are, wherever you can, to please persuade everyone, like we do, that we must help Ukraine win this war as soon as possible.”   

Witek added that "Ukraine's victory over the Russian assault" was vital “not only so that Ukraine can be a free country, but so that the entire free and democratic world can be free and democratic.” 

Witek, who is the Speaker of the lower house of Poland's parliament, told Canada's Polish community: “I am delighted with your achievements but above all with the way you still remember about Poland and feel yourselves Polish.”

'War showed the true measure of Polish people'

She said that the war in Ukraine “showed the true measure of the Polish people.”

It also "showed how open their hearts are and how highly they value freedom and independence,” she added.

Witek told the meeting that “Poland is now the talk of the world, for the first time in decades” thanks to its support for Ukraine and its people.

Four-day visit to Canada

Witek began her four-day visit to Canada on Saturday. 

On Tuesday, she was due to hold a series of meetings in Ottawa, including with a Polish-Canadian inter-parliamentary group; the Speaker of Canada’s Senate, George J. Furey; and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota.

On Monday, Witek laid flowers at a monument in the Canadian capital to honour Canadian airmen who fell while flying support missions to German-occupied Poland during World War II. 

Tuesday is day 111 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, polskatimes.pl