During a joint briefing with Polish PM Donald Tusk in Kyiv on 22 January, his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, outlined three key objectives for Ukraine for this year and sought Poland’s assistance in achieving them, according to Ukrinform.
Polish Prime Minister Tusk arrived in Kyiv on the morning of 22 January to meet with the Ukrainian President and the Cabinet Head:
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1749372127944364214
“This year, Ukraine has three key tasks and is asking Poland for help,” Shmyhal said.
Ukraine’s key tasks for 2024, according to PM Schmyhal, are as follows:
- to make sure the European Council approves the multi-year funding program, the Ukraine Facility;
- to get into the negotiation process on Ukraine’s accession to the EU;
- “clear and bold decisions at the Washington NATO summit regarding Ukraine’s movement towards membership in the Alliance.”
The Ukrainian Prime Minister stressed that the government hopes for Poland’s support in fulfilling all the tasks mentioned.
“We are grateful for the support in all these issues and areas,” said Shmyhal.
Energy cooperation
During the meeting of the Ukrainian and Polish PMs, Shmyhal and Tusk discussed cooperation in the energy and oil sectors, as well as the implementation of new projects for energy market development.
They emphasized the significant potential for energy collaboration between Ukraine and Poland, including the construction of power lines like “Rivne NPP – Helm” and “Lviv – Krosno,” as well as the importance of creating a new European route for oil supply, potentially involving the “Brody – Adamova Zastava” oil pipelines as part of the Euro-Asian Oil Transport Corridor project, according to a report by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.
Intensifying gov’t contacts
According to Shmyhal, the Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen bilateral intergovernmental cooperation. In particular, to hold coordinating intergovernmental meetings and intensify the work of the intergovernmental commission.
“Ukraine and Poland are resetting their intergovernmental relations. The reset is taking place on the basis of equality and mutual assistance. On the terms of partnership and a common goal – the independence and prosperity of our countries,” Denys Shmyhal stressed.
Border blockades
PM Shmyhal said his Polish counterpart, Tusk, and he discussed the free movement of goods across the border, the development of border infrastructure and energy cooperation.
“We believe that today the issue has been resolved, the border has been unblocked, and our joint work is working. Ukraine has proposed a mechanism for verifying agricultural exports in line with the European Commission’s decision. This mechanism is already working effectively with Romania and Bulgaria, and we propose to use it in our mutually beneficial relations,” said Denys Shmyhal.
New military aid package
After his meeting with Donald Tusk in Kyiov on 22 January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned a new Polish military assistance package for Ukraine:
“We appreciate Poland’s unwavering support and the new military aid package for Ukraine, as well as a new form of cooperation aimed at larger-scale arms purchases for Ukrainian needs: a Polish loan for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Zelenskyy: Poland allocates Ukraine with new defense package
No details of the new aid package were disclosed, but the Ukrainian PM Shmyhal said that since the outset of the full-scale war, Poland has provided Ukraine with weapons systems and equipment worth almost $3.5 billion.
