If Ukraine and Poland Do Not Reconcile, We Will All Lose – Czech Defence Minister

Jana Černochová, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, has warned Ukraine and Poland against increasing tension in relations and has urged them to apologise to each other.

Černochová said on Twitter that Poland is her second homeland, so she knows the mentality of the Poles well.

"Proud, fighting and courageous people who do not allow anyone to yell at them and order them around. This is a premise confirmed by history. I am sorry, but today's statement by the President of Ukraine about Poland has really backfired," she posted, apparently referring to Volodymyr Zelenskyy's words before the UN General Assembly.

"And to make matters even worse, on Tuesday, Ukraine also filed a complaint with the WTO against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary over grain.

The first two countries are in the final [stages of] elections, and it will be difficult to explain to their citizens that for a year and a half, they have really intensively helping a country that is filing a complaint to the WTO against their country [...] while the president is publicly berating them at the UN. This is very difficult to explain to voters," the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic said.

In this regard, she said that the parties "need to put their pride aside, sit down at the negotiating table, apologise, take a breath and move on."

"This has to happen in the near future. And I ask all parties to do it. If this doesn't happen, we will all lose," Černochová urged.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki explained on Wednesday, 20 September that Warsaw is now focused on rearming its own army and therefore is not providing military assistance to Kyiv.

Morawiecki's statements came amid tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv over Polish unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products and Ukraine's response.

Andrzej Duda, President of Poland, said that the words of Mateusz Morawiecki on the cessation of military assistance to Ukraine due to the need for rearmament were taken out of context.