Polish President Andrzej Duda (Photo: Reuters).
Reuters reported that Poland's president said he was not sure whether Ukraine could regain control of Russian-controlled Crimea but believed it could retake Donetsk and Luhansk, a comment that was criticized by politicians in Poland's ruling coalition.
Warsaw has been one of Kiev’s strongest supporters since Russia launched its military campaign in the neighboring country in 2022. Polish officials have said Ukraine needs to regain control of all its territory to prevent Moscow from gaining more ground.
President Andrzej Duda reiterated this view in an interview with Kanal Zero late on February 2. However, when asked if he believed Ukraine could actually take back Crimea, he said: "It's difficult for me to answer that question."
“I don’t know if (Ukraine) will get Crimea back, but I believe they will get Donetsk and Luhansk back,” he said.
The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, "is a special place... also for historical reasons. Because in fact, if we look historically, Russia has controlled this peninsula for most of history," he said.
Crimea had been part of Russia since 1783, until February 19, 1954, when it became a "gift" from Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. This was a gift to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Ukraine signing the Pereiaslav Treaty, unifying with the Russian Tsarist regime.
The decision to hand over Crimea to Ukraine remains controversial to this day as to why the Soviet leadership actually "ceded" the territory to Ukraine and whether it was a legal decision.
On the other hand, Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was not recognized by Ukraine and the West because they considered the referendum organized by Moscow invalid.
Ukraine has repeatedly declared that it will take back every inch of land, including Crimea.
Following Mr. Duda's remarks, Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, said on February 3: "Crimea is Ukraine's: it has been and will remain so. The return of Crimea is our common task and obligation to the free world."
Mr Duda’s comments were criticised by MPs in Poland’s ruling coalition. He is an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost power in December after failing to win a majority in October elections.
"I would like to remind Mr Duda that there are cities in our country that historically belonged to Poland for a shorter period than to another country," said Roman Giertych, a lawmaker in the largest group in the ruling coalition.
Mr Giertych said Mr Duda's statement lacked insight.
Meanwhile, PiS MP Radoslaw Fogiel said such criticism of Mr Duda's remarks was unfounded. "He directly answered the question about Ukraine's return of Crimea by saying he did not know," the lawmaker said.
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