Nawrocki meets Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara

Polish President Karol Nawrocki held a conversation with Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.

Nawrocki announced this to journalists ahead of the summit’s plenary session — a live stream of the press approaches was broadcast on the alliance’s website.

“Yesterday I also had a polite conversation with Zelensky,” the Polish leader said. He emphasized, however, that his position on the key points of contention remains unchanged.

“My position on the issues concerning tensions in our bilateral relations remains unchanged: Poland — and, I believe, all of Europe — cannot accept references to UPA militants responsible for the deaths of 120,000 Poles,” Nawrocki stressed.

At the same time, the Polish president stated the need to continue dialogue between Warsaw and Kyiv despite the existing disagreements. “This does not preclude our dialogue — that is an obvious thing in the world of diplomacy. We are continuing the dialogue,” he said.

A new escalation of tensions between the two countries arose at the end of May, when Zelensky named one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units after “heroes of the UPA.” In response, Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honor — the Order of the White Eagle. Zelensky, in turn, declined to participate in the international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction in Gdansk and announced the creation of a pantheon of Ukrainian heroes.