Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes for open borders between Poland and Ukraine, he said during a visit to Warsaw.
Especially in the early days of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, places near the border in Poland “opened their doors and there were no borders” between the two countries, Zelenskyi said on Wednesday in a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.
This, he said, was the beginning of borderlessness between neighboring countries in the future.
“No borders in political, economic and – especially important – in historical terms,” Zelenskyj stressed, referring to the difficult Ukrainian-Polish past.
Zelensky thanked Duda and the Poles for their help “on the difficult road to [Ukraine’s] victory.” The Ukrainian refugees could “feel at home” in their neighboring country thanks to the people in Poland and they were not just guests.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Poland has granted protection status to some 1.6 million refugees from the neighboring country.
On Wednesday, Duda awarded Zelensky with Poland’s highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. He was awarded the order for his services to deepening Polish-Ukrainian relations, his commitment to security and human rights defense, Duda said in his tribute.