PRESS RELEASE : Head of State meets with President of Latvia, Prime Minister of Poland paying visit to Kyiv [September 2022]

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 9 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, who are paying a visit to our country.

Welcoming the foreign guests, the President of Ukraine thanked Latvia and Poland for supporting our country in the struggle for freedom, independence and sovereignty.

“Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of our land, we have had these countries with us, these leaders who have demonstrated their world-class leadership qualities,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Latvia and Poland have supported Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor since the occupation of Crimea.

According to him, these countries and their peoples are stable partners of Ukraine, who provide support in various areas: political, defense, humanitarian, in particular helping forcibly displaced persons.

“These states have done their best and continue to do so, demonstrating historical support for Ukraine,” the President said.

The Head of State thanked the partners for their help in unlocking macro-financial assistance, in particular the first part of it in the amount of EUR 5 billion, as well as for promoting Ukraine’s position in the EU.

“They took ambitious steps to help Ukraine in granting us the EU’s candidate status. We will continue to work at this level and do everything so that we, on our part, meet our obligations, and they, on their part, do everything so that this year we open a working dialogue on the future realistic accession of Ukraine to the European Union,” Zelenskyy said.

The President also announced that today Ukraine won the support of Latvia and Poland regarding the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation.

“Today, we discussed an important aspect regarding visa restrictions for tourists from the Russian Federation to “unfriendly,” as they say, Europe. It seems to me that this is an absolutely fair decision. Today, we talked about the fact that we should unite the circle of such countries, and it should expand so that Russia feels the price for this war,” the Head of State said.

According to him, important energy issues were raised during the meeting.

“We are interested in Ukraine being able to help Poland, and we are doing everything to find an answer to future energy risks soon,” Zelenskyy said.

For his part, Levits said that Latvia and Poland are friends of Ukraine and will always remain on the side of the Ukrainian people, who are now fighting not only for their freedom, but also for the whole of Europe and the whole free world.

“Our duty is to provide you with all the necessary help so that Ukraine wins. This is the duty of all democratic countries,” the President of the Republic of Latvia said.

He said that Latvia helps with the rehabilitation of wounded Ukrainian servicemen, organized summer camps for Ukrainian children, thereby supporting Ukraine in the struggle for freedom.

In addition, according to the President of the Republic of Latvia, his state has started a special program to rebuild a number of facilities in Chernihiv region, including educational institutions, so that children can return to school.

Levits emphasized that Latvia, together with Poland, contributes to the European integration of Ukraine in every possible way, among other things, by ensuring the acceleration of negotiations regarding our country’s accession to the EU.

“Ukraine not only politically and culturally belongs to the European family, but also should have been a member of the EU, because the European Union is a union of free democratic countries,” he said.

For his part, Morawiecki said that Poland, together with the Baltic states, is perhaps the most active in the European Union in communicating with the European Commission regarding financial support for Ukraine and the continuation of the policy of sanctions against the aggressor state.

“These sanctions will intensify and will be more painful for the Russian economy every month,” he said.

The Prime Minister of Poland noted the progress of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kharkiv region and wished that this success would be the first swallow of Ukraine’s final victory over Russia in this unprovoked war.

“From this terrible war, from this heroic defense, a new Europe must be born – with Ukraine as a full-fledged member of the EU,” Morawiecki is convinced.

He added that Europe, the United States and the entire free world should help Ukraine in its struggle.

“Poland will always organize this assistance,” the Prime Minister said.

Morawiecki said that during the negotiations today, the issue of creating a special hub was discussed, where the repair of military equipment and the training of the Ukrainian troops would be performed. In addition, the participation of Polish companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine was discussed.

He expressed his conviction that thanks to the solidarity of partners and the heroism of the Ukrainian people, this victory will come, and the space of European values will be defended.

“I believe that Ukraine will win. That military and financial aid will be effective for the final victory,” he said.