2024-08-24 14:40 update: 2024-08-24, 14:42
Photo: PAP/Vladyslav Musiienko
Without an independent Ukraine, it is difficult to think about an independent and safe Poland, Lithuania or other countries in the region, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said in Kyiv.
Duda arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday morning to take part in the 33rd Ukraine's Independence Day events.
August 24 marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine by the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991.
During his speech at the anniversary ceremony, Duda addressed Ukrainians saying that "Poland is with you, it has been with you from the very beginning of Russian aggression."
He added that, together with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, he visted Kyiv on February 23, 2022, on the eve of the Russian aggression and that since the outbreak of the war he had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on multiple occasions, both in Ukraine, Poland and at international forums.
"However, I consider it a special honour to be able to speak before you, the citizens of Ukraine, here in Kyiv, on the 33rd anniversary of Ukraine regaining its independence," Duda said.
"Your independence day is in a sense also a celebration of the independence of the whole of Central Europe, because without an independent Ukraine it is difficult to think about an independent and safe Poland, Lithuania or other countries in our region. We know this well and hence I am all the more glad that we are here together today," he continued.
Duda also said that for over two years Ukrainians had been heroically fighting for their country and defending their independence, paying the highest price for it, the price of their lives, the price of their blood.
"Please remember that in this most difficult trial you are not alone. Poland has supported, supports and will continue to support your just fight until its victorious end," he pledged. (PAP)
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