President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20, quarreled with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski when he arrived in Kiev on Friday, September 13. On September 17, former Polish diplomat Witold Juras wrote about this in an article for the Onet portal.

According to the participants of the meeting, the atmosphere between Zelensky and Sikorsky was extremely tense. At the same time, Polish officials were surprised by the style in which Zelensky tried to treat the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry.

At first, the Ukrainian leader accused Poland of insufficient support for Ukraine on the issue of joining the European Union (EU), to which Sikorsky replied that Poland had spent ten years to join the union. He called the deadline proposed by the interlocutor unrealistic.

After that, the president of Ukraine said that Warsaw should transfer more military equipment to Kiev and is obliged to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine. To this, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry objected that such actions require the consent of NATO.

In addition, during the meeting, Zelensky accused Poland of inflating the topic of the Volyn massacre solely for domestic political reasons. For his part, Sikorsky called for the exhumation of the victims of those events for a decent reburial, but the Ukrainian president «was not convinced.»

Earlier, on September 2, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry in an interview with the Financial Times said that Poland and other NATO member countries are obliged to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine. According to him, it is a constitutional duty to ensure the protection of one’s country.

On the same day, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Joane recalled that it was customary in the alliance to discuss issues about decisions that could harm states.

Commenting on Sikorsky’s words, political scientist Ivan Mezyuho called him one of the irresponsible politicians. He stressed that the Russian Federation would not ignore such steps and in this case Warsaw could expect consequences.

Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian Federation’s special operation to protect Donbass, which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.