In a TV interview on Wednesday, Morawiecki claimed that Poland would no longer send weapons to Ukraine.

On Thursday evening, President Andrzej Duda said the statement had been misinterpreted.

– Morawiecki’s words were interpreted in the worst possible sense. “I think what the prime minister meant was that we will not transfer any of the new weapons that we are currently purchasing to modernize the Polish army to Ukraine,” Duda said.

Large-scale rearmament

Poland began major defensive rearmament after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Poland is in the process of purchasing a large number of fighter planes, tanks, helicopters, artillery carriages and other weapons. If the purchases go ahead as planned, Poland’s defense force will be one of the largest in Europe.

After the invasion, Poland became one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. Ukraine has received tanks, old warplanes and other types of weapons from Poland, which has hosted around one million Ukrainian refugees.

But recently the two countries have been arguing over wheat.

Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, is unable to transport grain across the Black Sea on a limited basis due to the war. More grain is shipped through Eastern European countries, and some is also sold here.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia believe that Ukrainian wheat has depressed prices and caused problems for local farmers. The EU imposed a ban on the sale of Ukrainian grain in several Eastern European countries, but this ban was recently lifted.

[ Topprepublikaner ville ikke la Zelenskyj tale til samlet Kongress ]

Harsh words

Neither Poland, Hungary nor Slovakia will accept eliminating the import union – worsening those countries’ relations with Ukraine.

In Poland, elections will be held soon, and the ruling PiS party has high support in the agricultural sector. The government wants to protect farmers, and its use of language in the grain dispute with Ukraine has sometimes been harsh.

Earlier this week, Duda compared Ukraine to a drowning man.

– A drowning person is very dangerous because he can pull you into the depths. He could have drowned his lifesaver, the Polish president said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj claimed at the UN General Assembly that certain countries were only pretending to show solidarity with Ukraine.

[ Det hvite hus varsler «vesentlig» styrking av Ukrainas luftvern ]