Donald Tusk arrived in Kyiv on an official visit for the first time as Prime Minister

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, visited Ukraine for the first time since his appointment — he arrived in Kyiv. This is happening on the Day of the National Unity of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Office of the Prime Minister of Poland.

Donald Tusk announced a productive visit, during which, in particular, he plans to discuss the problem of Polandʼs embargo on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products and the blocking of the border by Polish carriers.

The Polish Prime Minister will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

On December 11, 2023, the Polish Parliament elected the leader of the "Civic Coalition" Donald Tusk as the countryʼs new prime minister. Two days after that, he was sworn in as prime minister. He already held this position in 2007-2014. On December 13, Donald Tusk was sworn in as prime minister and appointed ministers. He declared that after coming to power he would immediately take up the settlement of the situation on the border of Poland and Ukraine.

Border blockade

From November 6, Polish carriers block the movement of trucks at three checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border ("Yagodyn — Dorohusk", "Krakowiec — Korchova", "Rava-Ruska — Hrebenne"). On the morning of November 23, Polish transporters began blocking the fourth checkpoint, “Shehyni-Medyka”. They demand the restoration of the system of permits or quotas for Ukrainian transport. A representative of the European Commission, Adalbert Janz, said on November 16 that it is legally impossible to return to the old system and cancel the "transport visa-free regime" from the EU.

On January 16, Polish transporters who blocked checkpoints on the border with Ukraine reached an agreement with the government and agreed to suspend their protest in three settlements — Korchova, Hrebenne, Dorohusk. The blockade will be lifted by March 1. During this time, the Polish government undertakes to solve the problems of carriers. However, on January 24, Polish farmers announced a major protest over the import of grain from Ukraine. They plan to block roads across Poland for two hours.