Duda was a key ally of Trump’s during the U.S. leader’s first term in office and may serve to mend fences between the United States and a wary Europe.
President Donald Trump is expected to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda in Washington on Saturday, as relations between the United States and its European partners sour over the issue of Ukraine.
Duda was a key ally of Trump’s during the American leader’s first term in office and may serve to mend fences between the United States and a wary Europe following a war of words between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in the week.
Writing this week on social media platform X, Duda said that he advised Zelenskyy to remain calm in negotiations with Trump and believed the United States wanted the best for the world.
“I suggested to President [Zelenskyy] to remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation with Donald Trump,” Duda wrote.
“I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace,” he added.
The comments follow an intense exchange throughout the week by Trump and Zelenskyy, with Trump calling the Ukrainian leader a “dictator” and Zelenskyy accusing Trump of spreading Russian propaganda.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social media platform.
The rhetoric escalated further, with Trump suggesting Ukraine would have no role in the terms of a cease-fire after Zelesnkyy expressed skepticism about a deal that would grant the United States control of vast amounts of Ukrainian rare earth elements.
Both men eventually toned down or otherwise walked back their comments, with Zelenskyy saying that a strong and lasting peace would require the United States to be in accord with its partners in Europe.
“It is important that the United States stand with us. A strong and lasting peace can only be achieved through unity,” Zelenskyy posted on X.
Duda and Trump’s meeting will follow a meeting between Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, shortly after Rubio met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to begin the process of normalizing relations between Moscow and Washington.
Sikorski told reporters that he believed Trump’s negotiating tactics regarding Ukraine were a domestic matter but that he “got the impression that the United States was committed to lasting peace.”
Poland is a key NATO ally and among Europe’s largest spenders on defense. Warsaw aims to spend roughly 4.7 percent of its GDP on defense in 2025 and would likely be critical to any European effort to secure a cease-fire in Ukraine.
Trump has said that any cease-fire deal would likely require European nations to supply peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that his nation will not commit any troops to Ukraine.
Instead, Tusk said that said that Warsaw will continue to provide Kyiv with humanitarian and security assistance and would provide logistical and political support to nations who send troops to Ukraine.
Reuters contributed to this report.