WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland said on Monday it had been a mistake to exclude Polish and Ukrainian leaders from last week’s meeting of U.S., German, British and French leaders in Berlin that focused on how to support Kyiv in its war with Russia.
U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron held talks on Friday in Berlin to discuss how to end fighting in Ukraine as Russian forces advance in the east.
They also discussed the conflict in the Middle East.
Biden had originally been scheduled to convene a broader meeting of Ukraine’s military supporters, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany but that was cancelled due to Hurricane Milton.
“If the topic is helping Ukraine, it is simply a mistake that neither Ukraine nor Poland took part in this meeting,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Reuters.
“If we are talking about aid for Ukraine, we must remember firstly that Poland is one of the countries that helps Ukraine the most and secondly that 90% of total deliveries (for Ukraine) go through Polish territory.”
The German government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Relations between Poland and Germany have become warmer since Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition came to power in December, although Warsaw has criticised Berlin’s approach to migration and the neighbours differ on the issue of joint EU financing for defence and strengthening the bloc’s eastern border.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Barbara Erling in Warsaw, Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Editing by Ros Russell)
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