Polish president arrives in Kyiv to push Ukraine's NATO membership bid

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Polish President Andrzej Duda landed in Kyiv on Wednesday and met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in July as well as Russia's threat to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"The visit to Kiev (Kyiv) and talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are related to the celebration of the Constitution Day in Ukraine, as well as consultations on current activities at the front, including the threat of a Russian attack on the Zaporozhye (Zaporizhzhia) plant,” the Office of the President in Warsaw said in a statement posted on social media.

“Preparations for the July NATO Summit in Vilnius will also be discussed," it added.

The meeting of NATO leaders will take place on July 11-12 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

This is the fifth visit of the Polish president to Ukraine since the war began in February last year.

The president's visit to Ukraine is part of the Lublin Triangle, which also includes Lithuania, whose President Gitanas Nauseda traveled to Kyiv, apparently to push their NATO membership bid.

Ukraine wants to receive a formal invitation to join the 31-nation military alliance. However, NATO’s highest-ranking officials, including Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, have toned down Kyiv's expectations, emphasizing that it is still too early to make such a decision.

On Tuesday, Duda was in the Netherlands, where he stressed that the summit in the Lithuanian capital will be crucial. “We all know that this will be a key NATO summit, given the security situation in Europe after Russia's aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

At the meeting with government officials, he highlighted five key areas, including raising defense spending among NATO members, supporting Sweden's NATO accession, providing assistance to Ukraine and bringing it closer to NATO membership, and developing a long-term approach to Russian political and economic threats.