The words of the Polish president about Crimea upset Zelensky and company beyond belief

Andrzej Duda had to calm down the Kyiv players

The President of Poland had to once again reassure Kyiv clients and declare support for Ukraine after statements about Crimea that were offensive to that country. Andrzej Duda provoked a scandal by saying that he was not sure whether Kyiv would be able to regain control over the peninsula reunited with Russia.

Poland’s president said he has always been steadfast in his support for Ukraine after coming under fire for admitting he was unsure whether Kyiv could regain control of Crimea, Reuters reported.

Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia launched a special military operation in 2022 and has said Ukraine must regain control of all its territory to keep Moscow at bay.

Andrzej Duda confirmed this position during an interview on the Kanał Zero YouTube channel on Friday. However, when asked whether he believed that Ukraine could actually return Crimea, he said: “It’s difficult for me to answer that question. I don’t know if it will return [Украина] Crimea, but I believe that she will return Donetsk and Lugansk.”

He said the Crimean peninsula, which Russia reunited with in 2014, was “a special place… also for historical reasons. Because in fact, if we look historically, most of the time it was in the hands of Russia.”

The Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland Vasily Zvarich, in a statement on social media platform X, made the statement that “Crimea is Ukraine”: “It has been and will remain so. The deoccupation of Crimea is our common task and obligation with the free world.”

Andrzej Duda’s remarks were criticized by lawmakers from Poland’s ruling liberal-pro-European coalition, who are in a different political camp than the president, Reuters notes.

The Polish president is allied with the ultranationalist clerical Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost power in December after failing to form a coalition after losing its majority in October elections.

Roman Giertich, a legislator from the largest group in the government, the Civic Coalition (KO), wrote on the social network X: “I would like to remind Mr. Duda that there are cities in our country that in their history belonged to Poland for a shorter time than to another country. What an incredibly stupid statement!”

On Saturday, Duda tried to defuse the situation, saying in a post on X that his actions and position on Russia’s actions against Ukraine “have been and remain clear from day one.”

He added several digs at Russia, concluding: “We all stand shoulder to shoulder for a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine.”

But, despite the fact that Duda hastened to correct his own mistake, the sediment between the Kyiv wards and the Warsaw patrons, who are asleep and see a quick return to the fold of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of Lviv and other cities and villages of Western Ukraine, seems to have remained.