Morawiecki in Kyiv: Poland urges EU to send Ukraine 9 bln euro as promised

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Kyiv on Friday, where he met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Latvia's President Egils Levits.

While in Kyiv, Morawiecki held meetings to discuss the geopolitical situation, the energy market, energy and military security.

"From this heroic defense of #Ukraine, a new Europe must be born - a Europe with Ukraine as a Member State. Long live free Ukraine! Long live Poland! Long live all the nations that defend freedom and love freedom," Morawiecki said at a press conference after his talks with president Zelenskiy.

Polish prime minister stressed that Russia was using all available economic instruments to pressure and blackmail many European states, especially Ukraine.

"And that's why out of this horrible war, out of this heroic defence, a new Europe must be born, a Europe with Ukraine as Member State. Poland and its allies strongly urges the European Commission to give Ukraine as soon as possible what the European Union had promised in June, that is 9 billion euro," Morawiecki said.

The Polish leader said at the briefing that sanctions imposed on Russia were exerting a growing pressure on Moscow.

"Russia is putting a brave face, but everyone should know that sanctions against Russia will be increasingly painful with each month for Russia's economy," Morawiecki said.

"Together with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the Czech Republic, we are the most active within the EU, especially in talks with the European Commission to organise financial support for #Ukraine and impose sanctions against Russia," Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland quoted Morawiecki as saying in a tweet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that troops had "liberated dozens of settlements" and reclaimed more than 1,000 square km (385 square miles) of territory in Kharkiv region in the east as well as Kherson in the south in the past week.

Morawiecki congratulated Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian Army and entire nation on this military success.

"In a very brave attack, the Ukrainian troops successfully advanced several dozen kilometers into the frontline, between Kharkiv and Izium," he said.

Poland is interested in buying power from Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant, Morawiecki said after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"We could use some electricity from Ukraine. I heard from President Zelenskiy that Ukraine will be soon ready to sell power from Khmelnytskyi and I thanked him for that," Morawiecki told a news briefing he held along with Ukraine's president.

Ukraine has sought to increase electricity exports to the European Union to boost cash flow to its utilities hit by a drop in electricity use since the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Ukrainian electricity would help the EU cope with reduced gas supplies from Russia.

Ukraine is already selling some electricity to Hungary and Slovakia, along with some 200 megawatts (MW) of power to Poland. An additional 1,000 MW of electricity could flow via a power cable linking Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi plant and Poland, a possibility that Morawiecki was referring to. The link, idled since the 1990s, is scheduled to reopen by the end of the year after necessary upgrades.