Dear Mr Speaker, dear Ruslan!
Dear members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine!
Dear friends!
I remember Thursday, 24 February 2022, and it will always remain in my memory as a day of great tragedy – the day when russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine. However, this was not the beginning of russian aggression, it has been going on for ten years. For 821 days, russia has been using massive military force against a sovereign European state, committing war crimes and atrocities against the Ukrainian civilian population. These days have dramatically changed the security situation in Ukraine and throughout Europe.
The tragedy of Ukraine is also the tragedy of Poland. We mourn each of your lives and each of your sufferings. Because we have lived side by side for centuries, we know very well that this is suffering caused by the same enemy, the same barbarism, the barbarism of the Kremlin, that has fallen on the Ukrainian people and the Polish people.
I am here today to talk about what unites us – the Polish-Ukrainian friendship. We believe in it and we practice it. But we also know very well that nothing lasts forever. We have to protect our friendship from distrust, especially now, when our common enemy, russia, is trying to instil this distrust in us. putin knows very well, as stalin and the russian tsars knew before him, that Ukraine and Poland, when they act together, are invincible. It is only when our common enemy succeeds in sowing distrust in us that Poland and Ukraine face deadly challenges.
“There is no free Ukraine without an independent Poland, and there is no free Poland without an independent Ukraine.” These words were uttered back in 1920 by the then Polish Deputy Prime Minister Ignacy Daszyński. Even then, we tried to help each other. And when we failed to defeat that russia, first, sovereign Ukraine ceased to exist, and then sovereign Poland ceased to exist. Both our nations experienced unspeakable tragedies.
Polish-Ukrainian relations are a challenge of our time. This is the work that our politicians and diplomats, our historians and entrepreneurs, and MPs do. But Polish-Ukrainian friendship is also a task for our schools and universities, for the teachers of our youth, and for our churches.
In the new dangerous world, neither Poland nor Ukraine can withstand alone, and both countries need the European Union and NATO. We need friends both on one side of the Atlantic and on the other. Poland is in the EU and NATO, and Ukraine has the right and should be there.
The accession process should take place as soon as possible. Kyiv can count on our support at every stage of this process.
I would also like to remind you of the joint appeal of 24 parliaments, including the Senate of the Republic of Poland, to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in February this year to launch the next tranche of U.S. assistance. Our joint actions have yielded results: more than $60 billion in aid has already begun to help the defence efforts of the Ukrainian army. We are ready to continue working with you to achieve our common goals. However, it is not just about NATO and the European Union’s support for Poland and Ukraine, it is also about what the experience of Ukraine and Poland can teach the EU and NATO.
First and foremost, Ukrainians and Poles can help the West become immune to the kremlin’s lies. Poland not only shows the true face of the conflict, informing who is the victim and who is the aggressor, but also actively fights disinformation.
The upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland should be seen first and foremost as an expression of the broadest possible support for the principles of Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We remember that no peace summit can become a new “Munich” – we must never forget, not even for a moment, that only Ukraine has the mandate to decide its future. To impose any position or decision on you is contrary to the principle of the sovereignty of nations and respect for their right to self-determination.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, next Sunday is Mother’s Day in Poland, and a few days later is Children’s Day. This will be a holiday not only for Polish mothers and children, but also for all mothers and children from Ukraine who have found a safe home in Poland.
We are proud to celebrate these symbolic days together. But we cannot forget about the mothers whose children were taken away from them and taken to an unknown destination. We have to remember that thousands of Ukrainian children are away from their families. russia is trying to take away their history, families and identity.
Therefore, I sincerely wish Ukrainian mothers and children to be able to live with their families in a free and safe Ukraine as soon as possible.
Dear friends, Poland and Ukraine – two nations with so much history – must work together to create the future of a united Europe – a Europe that is strong, secure and in solidarity. There will be no secure Europe without a free Ukraine.
May the words of the song sung by Ukrainian soldiers become a message to the entire democratic world: “Let us unite, brothers, in this hour of need, let the enemy know that we are for Ukraine!”
Glory to Ukraine!
Niech żyje Polska!