During his visit, Selenskyj thanked Poland for the large number of refugees.
He prophesies the victory of freedom and counts on further military aid.
Warsaw – In an emotional speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj swears by the close alliance with Poland.
"Ukrainian and Polish hearts beat for freedom, for the mutual independence of our states, for our native Europe, our common home, and we will win!" he said on Wednesday.
From the crowd in the palace courtyard, the Ukrainian President was greeted several times with the shout "Slava Ukrajini!" (Glory to Ukraine);
he replied with "Glory to the heroes!".
Then he joked that this could go on until morning and went on with his speech.
Zelenskyj visits Poland – President thanks for military and humanitarian aid
Zelenskyy thanked Poland for a powerful arms package that both sides agreed to during the visit.
He also mentioned cities like Rzeszow and Lublin in eastern Poland near the border.
They are the first point of contact for refugees from Ukraine and a hub for foreign military aid.
He thanked every single Pole for this brotherhood.
"There is no longer any force that can overcome the Ukrainian-Polish friendship."
It was Zelenskyy's first official visit to Poland since the start of the Russian invasion of his country.
In Warsaw he spoke with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, among others.
For the Poles, the visit was an important, symbolic gesture.
From the very first days of the war, the Poles showed unprecedented helpfulness to war refugees.
Millions crossed the border, many moved further west, some went back to their homeland.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), around 1.6 million people from Ukraine currently have protection status in Poland.
Support in the Ukraine war: Poland supplies Ukraine with fighter jets
Poland, which refused to take in refugees as recently as 2015 and was still cracking down on migrants at the Belarusian border in 2021, has become a “humanitarian superpower,” as US Ambassador to Warsaw Mark Brzezinski put it.
Poland's military support for Ukraine also played an important role in Zelenskyy's visit.
Ukraine has already received eight MiG-29 fighter jets from Warsaw, Duda said, four of them "over the past few months" and another four "recently."
In addition, six MiG-29s are currently being prepared for delivery.
Poland's President reiterated that his country will continue to help its neighbors with heavy weapons and is demanding the same from other NATO members.
"We are setting an example for other countries and breaking their stubbornness and resistance to supplying arms."
Fighter jets for Ukraine: Zelenskyj signs preliminary contract for the purchase of wheeled armored personnel carriers
Zelenskyj also signed a preliminary contract with Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for the purchase of new Polish wheeled infantry fighting vehicles.
The contract is financed with EU funds for Poland and US aid for Ukraine.
The price of the order and the timetable for the delivery of the wheeled armored personnel carriers were not mentioned.
In his speech in the courtyard of the Royal Castle, which was accompanied by much applause, Zelenskyy emphasized that the Polish-Ukrainian alliance is a cornerstone for freedom in Eastern Europe.
"If we are free together with you, it is a guarantee that freedom will be strong in all our neighboring countries, the neighbors of the European Union - Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania and other Baltic countries." And he added: " If we are free, that is the guarantee that freedom will also assert itself in Moldova and will not leave Georgia and will definitely come to Belarus.” (Doris Heimann, Andreas Stein and Friedemann Kohler)
