Their complicated common history is marked by economic confrontations, yet it has also witnessed a genuine popular outpouring of sympathy since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion. The two nations share a common sense of existence – freedom.
Recently, the Ukrinform national news agency presented a book by Yurii Shcherbak, distinguished writer and diplomat. Mr. Shcherbak, who serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Independent Ukrainian Media Center in Europe and is a member of the Presidium of the Ukrainian Peace Council, entitled his work “Ukraine in Poland’s Embrace. Realities and Prophecies”. This publication is a clarion call to maintain and multiply the achievements of Ukrainian-Polish friendship and strategic cooperation. In addition, it serves as another documentation of the war crimes and repercussions that Ukrainians are facing both in Ukraine and abroad today.
From the very outset of russian aggression, Poland has become Ukraine’s closest and staunchest ally across political, military, economic, information, and humanitarian domains. In particular, the author recounts his firsthand experiences and observations at the beginning of the war, when he had to relocate to Poland.
“I witnessed an incredible event – a ‘biblical’ exodus of our people, mainly women with children,” said Yurii Shcherbak during the book presentation at the Ukrinform media center. “I saw endless columns of cars and buses in front of the Polish border crossing. It was an unprecedented demographic catastrophe, as women with children, our genetic wealth, were fleeing. Unfortunately, not all these children will return to Ukraine; they will enrich the gene pool of other nations. That is what the book is about – about millions of people who crossed the border with Poland, and this country providing refuge for our people. I sought to thank the Poles for their wonderful attitude towards Ukrainians.”