Andrzej Duda was hosted by Sunak at 10 Downing Street in London on Thursday, Polish state news agency reported.
B9 summit with Joe Biden in Warsaw next week
The Polish president told reporters afterwards that one of the topics of the conversation was an upcoming summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group of eastern-flank NATO allies.
The get-together will take place in Warsaw next week during US President Joe Biden’s three-day visit to Poland.
Duda said: “It’s a very important opportunity to discuss what we would like to achieve and what decisions to take at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania [in the summer]. We’ll also talk about the situation in Ukraine and further support for Kyiv.”
Poland calls for 'more NATO equipment on the eastern flank'
Referring to NATO's Vilnius summit, the Polish president said that “the priority today is to strengthen militarily the countries of central and eastern Europe.”
He stated: “We would like there to be more NATO equipment on the eastern flank. Our security should be strengthened not because we’ll have to defend ourselves, but to ensure that we have serious deterrence forces.”
'Clear and firm support for Ukraine'
Duda thanked Sunak for Britain’s “clear and firm support for Ukraine” and for “making an important contribution to boosting our security.”
He said he was grateful that Britain had deployed its Sky Sabre air defence system to Poland to protect its skies.
He also voiced gratitude "for the fact that British soldiers are stationed in Poland," and that London had answered his appeal for tanks for Ukraine by pledging to provide 14 of its Challenger 2 machines.
Meanwhile, Sunak said that Poland and the UK would be strengthening their cooperation and partnership.
Postwar reconstruction of Ukraine
Duda and Sunak also discussed plans to rebuild Ukraine after the war, according to officials.
The Polish president told reporters: “We hope Britain will support us in being part of a coalition of countries that will participate in economic processes connected with the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
He added: “When it comes to transport from the West to Ukraine, we are essentially a key transit country, so it’s obvious to me that we should take part in this process.”
Zelensky to visit Poland?
Duda was asked by reporters if Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky would come to Poland next week to meet with Biden and the B9 leaders.
The Polish head of state replied: “If it's necessary, he will come, but it is essentially a decision for President Zelensky to make.”
Diplomatic drive
Thursday’s talks with Sunak were part of Duda’s diplomatic offensive ahead of Biden’s visit to Poland next week.
On Wednesday, the Polish president met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, Belgium, and held a video call with the Slovak head of state, Zuzana Čaputová, and Lithuania’s Gitanas Nausėda, according to officials.
On Friday, Duda will be hosted by King Charles III at London’s Buckingham Palace.
Later in the day, he will head to Germany to attend the annual Munich Security Conference and meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday is day 358 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, niezalezna.pl
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland’s Ada Janiszewska.