Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has arrived in neighbouring Ukraine, aiming to strengthen relations after months of political friction between the two wartime allies.
Tusk met his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal on Monday and is scheduled to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Poland explores making more ammunition and military equipment part of a new aid package for Ukraine.
Warsaw has emerged as a key ally for Kyiv as it defends itself against Russia and seeks more financial and military support from Western partners. Poland has also taken in more than one million Ukrainian refugees.
Relations between the two had deteriorated after blockades by Polish truckers at the border, which threatened to dent Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP). They agreed last week to suspend protests, which had been aimed at revoking Ukrainian truckers’ permit-free access to the European Union, until March 1.
Tusk’s visit coincides with Ukraine’s Unity Day holiday, which celebrates the unification of western and eastern Ukraine in 1919.
Credit: aljazeera.com
