Ukraine can help Poland develop anti-drone technology, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to Warsaw on Friday, as he and his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki stressed the countries' unity on security matters.
Warsaw has been one of Ukraine's staunchest backers since Russia's invasion in 2022, but with hostility to refugees rising in Poland and conservative parties there saying the country has gone too far in supporting Kyiv, relations between the neighbours have become more tense.
"Ukraine offers Poland consultations regarding defence from drones," Zelenskiy told a news conference. "We know how to defend ourselves from every existing type of Russian drone which can be used against our neighbours, against Poland or other nations."
He said Kyiv could also offer co-operation in maritime security, adding that he had invited Nawrocki to Ukraine to see the country's defence manufacturing capabilities.
Developing defences against drones has become a top priority for countries on NATO's eastern flank since the incursion of some 20 Russian drones into Poland in September and a spate of other drone incidents in countries including Romania, Denmark and Germany.
In September, Ukraine's defence minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukrainian troops and engineers would train their Polish counterparts in a joint group on countering drones.
Nawrocki said that Zelenskiy's visit was "bad news for Moscow" as it demonstrated the unity between Ukraine and Poland on security matters, adding that he believed Warsaw would be able to finalise an exchange of MiG-29 fighter jets for anti-drone technology from Ukraine.
Political analysts had said that the visit was an opportunity for Zelenskiy to smooth over some of the tensions that have emerged between Poland and Ukraine, and to establish a closer relationship with a European leader who is an ally of Donald Trump.
"Ukraine's independence and Poland's independence are foundations which allow every nation in our part of Europe to live freely...without Moscow's rule," Zelenskiy said. "That is why it is important that we co-operate, that we support one another, and that we co-ordinate with you about the defence of Europe, of our people."
Nawrocki was backed by Poland's largest nationalist opposition party PiS in this year's presidential election but his eventual victory in June's run-off vote owed much to supporters of conservative parties who say Poland has given Ukraine too much aid.
Around the same time as the two presidents spoke to the media on Friday, the leader of Poland's conservative Confederation party Slawomir Mentzen was addressing a protest outside parliament against what he called "the government's subservient policy towards Ukraine", adding on social media that Poles did not want to be treated like "suckers".
Nawrocki, who had refused to visit Kyiv until Zelenskiy came to Warsaw and thanked Poles for their support, addressed these views during the press conference. "Poles have the impression... that our efforts and multifaceted assistance to Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion were not properly appreciated," he said.
Differences over Poland's approach to relations with Ukraine are also a factor in the bitter feud at the heart of Polish politics between Nawrocki, an enthusiast of US President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, and centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council president.
Tusk has previously berated conservative parties over their attitude to Ukraine, telling them to, "stand by Ukraine's side in its war with Russia with no 'buts'".
Zelenskiy was scheduled to meet the prime minister later in the afternoon.
(Reporting by Barbara Erling, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Anna Koper in Warsaw; Olena Harmash, Max Hunder in Kyiv; Writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Susan Fenton)
