Poland’s president declared on Saturday he had always been unwavering in his support for Ukraine after coming under strong criticism for saying he was unsure whether Kyiv would be able to regain control over Russian-occupied Crimea.
Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia’s February 2022 invasion and has said Ukraine must regain control over all of its territory to deter Moscow from further aggression.
President Andrzej Duda reiterated this position during an interview on YouTube channel Kanal Zero late on Friday. However, when asked if he believed Ukraine would be able to retake Crimea, he said, “It is hard for me to answer that question”.
“I don’t know if (Ukraine) will regain Crimea, but I believe it will regain Donetsk and Luhansk,” he said.
He said the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion, “is a special place… also for historical reasons. Because in fact, if we look historically, it was in Russia’s hands for most of the time.”
Parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine were also taken by Moscow-backed forces in 2014 and have been embattled during the course of the current war, unlike Crimea.
Ukraine has vowed to recover every inch of its territory including Crimea in the war with Russia.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, wrote on X on Saturday that “Crimea is Ukraine: it is and will remain so”.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a member of the new pro-European governing coalition that has been at odds with the nationalist Duda, said Warsaw “recognises the independence of Ukraine within its internationally established borders”.
