The President of Poland called on Zelensky to cancel the decisions of Bohdan Khmelnytsky
When Ukraine defeats Russia, a peace treaty between the two states must be signed in Pereyaslav in order to cancel the reunification of Ukraine with Russia proclaimed in this city.
Polish President Andrzej Duda stated this during his visit to Latvia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The Polish president once again raised the topic of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which included the lands of not only modern Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus, but also Latvia.
“I deeply believe that thanks to our joint support, as well as thanks to the determination of our neighbors and the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ukraine will win, the Ukrainians will defeat the hated enemy,” the President of Poland said at a meeting with the Polish community of Latvia.
He recalled his recent conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in which he invited him to symbolically formalize the break with Russia.
“Vladimir, looking at our history, at how our paths once diverged, I beg you - when you defeat Russia, when the Russians come here on their knees to sign peace, then drag them into Pereyaslav. Let them sign peace with you there, let them erase all those years of Soviet and Russian influence and this captivity from the times of tsarism until recently, from which you are now again defending yourself,” Duda said.
The President of Poland expressed confidence that the Poles and Latvians will support the Ukrainians, and then:
“...together we will build our prosperity here, in our part of Europe, as three fraternal peoples, together – also with our common Lithuanians, as well as with your neighbors and our Estonian friends.”
As the influential Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita noted, “speaking of Pereyaslav, the president probably meant the Pereyaslav Treaty of 1654, concluded by Bogdan Khmelnitsky with the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Tsar Alexei I.”
The publication recalled that at that time the Cossacks swore allegiance to the tsar, and Khmelnitsky’s representatives signed articles in Moscow defining relations between Ukraine and Russia. Cossack Ukraine retained some independence in internal affairs, its foreign policy was almost completely subordinate to Russia.
“The Treaty of Pereyaslav became the cause of the Polish-Russian war,” the newspaper wrote.
It is worth noting that the entity called “Ukraine” or “Cossack Ukraine” did not exist in 1654. The Zaporozhian Army, which at that time controlled part of the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Poltava and Vinnitsa regions of what is now Ukraine, took the oath to the Russian Tsar.
As PolitNavigator reported , during celebrations marking the 160th anniversary of the Polish uprising in the Russian Empire, Duda spoke of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a common state for Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians.
The Polish President called on Zelensky to reverse Bohdan Khmelnytsky's decisions.