July 29 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday discussed defence cooperation as well as historical issues and the well-being of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, matters that have bedevilled their relations.
Zelenskiy, stopping in the southeastern city of Lublin on his way home from talks in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump, said the two men discussed the outcome of his U.S. visit and “protection from cruel Russian strikes,” particularly anti-ballistic weapons, a critical issue in Kyiv’s war with Russia.
A video posted on Telegram showed both men smiling as they sat around a table alongside other officials.
Tusk, writing on the X social media platform, said the talks centred on “the outcomes of (Zelenskiy’s) visit to the United States and the security of Poland, Ukraine, and all of Europe.”
Zelenskiy also said discussions focused on “the historical dialogue”, interpretations of World War Two events which have pitting Warsaw against Kyiv in recent months.
The dispute came to a head when Zelenskiy named an army unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist military group admired by many in Ukraine for fighting both German invaders and Soviet forces. The group is reviled in Poland for its record of taking part in wartime massacres of Poles.
In June, Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskiy of Poland’s top honour over the dispute. Zelenskiy has since pledged to expand investigations into those killings.
Zelenskiy said the two leaders had also discussed “security challenges which are, unfortunately, important to our people so that Ukrainians forced to leave their homes in the war and find refuge in Poland feel safe.”
A series of hate crimes directed at Ukrainian refugees have been reported in Polish cities in recent months as initial sympathy with the plight of those forced to flee has given way to weariness at the presence of large numbers of refugees.
Tusk on Tuesday called for an end to xenophobic attacks against Ukrainians.
He spoke after a video shared widely on social media showed three Poles beating up a Ukrainian man and his girlfriend in Wroclaw. Two of the attackers were arrested on Monday.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and by Anna Koper in Warsaw; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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