2020-10-11 21:07 update: 2020-10-12, 13:34
President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda (P) and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda (L) during the ceremony of laying flowers at the Polish War Cemetery in Bykivnia near Kiev. Photo: PAP / Leszek Szymański
The truth of the 1940 Katyn Forest Massacre of Polish POWs by the Soviet secret police NKVD is the foundation of a free, sovereign and independent Poland, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in Ukraine on Sunday.
Duda and his wife, Agata Kornhauser-Duda took part in observance marking the 80th anniversary of the tragic event held on Sunday evening at the Polish Military Cemetery in Bykivnia near Kiev.
The Polish president said that he was very satisfied that "thanks to the kindness of the Ukrainian authorities" the Polish delegation could "stand on this land of blood in Bykivnia," the place where thousands of Poles were murdered.
He said that a lie about the Katyn massacre was the foundation of communist Poland, "the strongest unifying element of the people of that era," and „therefore we are proud that the truth about the Katyn massacre, about the bestial genocidal murder that the Soviets committed against Polish officers in Katyn, in Kharkiv and here in Bykivnia, is today one of the strongest foundations of a free, true, truly sovereign, independent Poland."
The Polish president also condemned the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and Moscow's support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as he called for respecting international law.
After the ceremonies, Duda's chief aide, Krzysztof Szczerski, said that the Polish president and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, will on Monday sign a joint declaration on the strategy and goals of the two countries' common policy on history, economy and security.
"The presidents will adopt a very important political declaration that will sum up and outline all the key issues in bilateral relations, in the areas of security, economy, the situation of national minorities in both countries as well as historical issues," Szczerski said. (PAP)
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