What Ukraine's Crimea signal and Poland visit meant by 11 April 2023
A look back at the diplomatic messages Kyiv had sent in the days before 11 April 2023.
What was Kyiv telling its partners and the wider world as 11 April 2023 arrived? The reports from the preceding days point to two diplomatic threads: a visit to a close neighbour and a statement about Crimea.
On 5 April 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an official visit to Poland. During his meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, he received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest order.
On 6 April 2023, Andriy Sybiha, a deputy head, said Ukraine was ready to hold talks on the future of Crimea if the Ukrainian counteroffensive reached the administrative border of Crimea. The statement tied any such negotiations to progress on the battlefield.
Taken together, the reports from those days show a Ukrainian leadership pairing visible ties with Warsaw and a conditional position on Crimea. The Polish honour marked the standing of the Ukrainian president during an official visit, while the remarks on Crimea set out the circumstances in which Kyiv would be ready to negotiate.
