Yushchenko in Poland
President Aleksander Kwasniewski has confirmed that Poland supports Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union. Speaking after talks in Warsaw with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Kwasniewski said that Poland will undertake actions in the Union to encourage its opening to include Ukraine.
Viktor Yushchenko thanked Poland and president Kwasniewski for support of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and help to work out a compromise between the previous leaders and the democratic opposition, which made it possible to avoid bloodshed.
President Yushchenko is scheduled to meet Warsaw University students who staged massive rallies in support of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The December events in Ukraine led to a marked tightening of bilateral relations. But there are still many sensitive issues to be solved on both sides, among them that of the Polish cemetery in Lviv, where Polish youths who in 1918 defended the then Polish city against Ukrainians, are buried. For Poles the cemetery is a symbol of patriotic commitment, while Ukrainians see it as a symbol of oppression. The city authorities have not agreed to restore the cemetery to its original shape as the Polish side would like to do. President Yushchenko promised to resolve the dispute within the coming months.