Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, made a surprise visit to Poland on Saturday evening. In Lublin, he presented Ukrainian state awards to two Polish volunteers. Zelenskyj addressed all Poles on platform He stated it servers DoRzeczy. Zelensky’s suspension comes amid major tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, arising from the cheap sale of Ukrainian grain in transit, for which Poland has imposed and now extended an import embargo. However, the Ukrainian President did not meet with Polish politicians in Lublin.

Zelensky wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that on his way back to Ukraine, he visited Lublin, where he had the “honor to present Ukrainian state awards to two outstanding Polish volunteers.”

In Lublin, on my way back to Ukraine, I had the honor to award Ukrainian state awards to two outstanding Polish volunteers.

Б’янка Залевська – TVN Discovery Poland journalist, who helped provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens and transported injured children to… pic.twitter.com/vMr0IqyYIB

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@ZelenskyyUa)
September 23, 2023

The first recipient was Bianka Zalewska, a TVN journalist who “helped provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens and took injured children to Polish hospitals,” Zełenskyj wrote. The second award was given by the Ukrainian president to Damian Duda, a war medic, who he said “gathered medical teams to save our wounded soldiers on the front lines” and “created foundations to help medics, organizing training and providing necessary medical care.”

In the end, Zelenskyi addressed all Poles. “Thank you to all of Poland for your invaluable support and solidarity in helping defend the freedom of all of Europe!” wrote the Ukrainian president.

Zelensky’s suspension comes amid major tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, arising from the cheap sale of Ukrainian grain in transit, for which Poland has imposed and now extended an import embargo. Ukraine responded by suing Poland and other Eastern European countries that extended the embargo at the World Trade Organization. Warsaw, which was one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in the fight against the Russian invasion, later announced that it would no longer provide Ukraine with weapons from its stockpiles.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, just hours before the Ukrainian president’s stop in Lublin, asked Zelensky to “never insult Polish citizens again.” We wrote about it here. However, according to Polish media, no Polish politicians met Zelensky in Lublin.