Poland and Ukraine at odds after UN speech
A look back at the diplomatic friction between Warsaw and Kyiv in the days around 22 September 2023.
How quickly can a dispute over grain become a diplomatic row? By 22 September 2023, relations between Poland and Ukraine were under visible strain, following two developments two days earlier, on 20 September.
The first concerned a speech. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations General Assembly that the actions of some European countries indirectly helped Russia. The remark drew condemnation from Poland. On 20 September the Polish Foreign Ministry summoned Vasyl Zvarych, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, to convey its strong protest over the statement.
The second was a declaration on weapons. Also on 20 September, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland would stop supplying Ukraine with weapons. The announcement came amid tensions between the two countries over Poland's import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Taken together, the summoning of an ambassador and the halt to arms deliveries showed how far the disagreement had travelled, in the middle of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The agricultural ban was the backdrop against which both steps were reported at the time.
