Polish minister: Zelensky is “shooting himself in the foot” by refusing to go to Gdańsk

The leader of the Polska 2050 party and Poland’s minister of funds and regional policy, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, called Vladimir Zelensky’s decision not to attend the international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction, to be held in Gdańsk on June 25–26, a huge mistake.

She made the statement in an interview with the portal money.pl.

“Zelensky is making a huge mistake, because today Ukraine needs money for reconstruction. He is shooting himself in the foot — this is yet another mistake after the previous ones,” Pełczyńska-Nałęcz said.

By “previous mistakes,” the minister was referring to Zelensky’s decision to name a Ukrainian Armed Forces military unit after the “heroes of the UPA” (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). Pełczyńska-Nałęcz also added: “What Zelensky did is a scandal, and we have the right and must say so.”

The Ukrainian delegation at the Gdańsk conference will be led by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko instead of Zelensky — she announced this in advance.

Zelensky’s participation in the event came into question against the backdrop of deteriorating Polish-Ukrainian relations. On May 26, Zelensky granted the Separate Special Operations Center “North” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Special Operations Forces the name of the “heroes of the UPA,” which provoked widespread outrage in Poland. On June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the republic’s highest state honor — the Order of the White Eagle.