"People of Gdańsk are heroes". Ambassador Brzezinski honours Defenders of Polish Post and thanks the city for helping Ukrainians

During his Tuesday's visit to the northern city of Gdańsk, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski - assisted by Gdańsk Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz - laid flowers at the Monument to the Defenders of Polish Post Office. A short press briefing followed the ceremony.

"What is very important, Mr Ambassador has stressed it many times, is his close relationship with his father Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was also an honorary citizen of the city of Gdańsk. ... It was the American side who made efforts to lay flowers here at the Monument to the Defenders of Polish Post Office and commemorate civilians killed in the World War II," Gdańsk Mayor said.

"Because just like today we need each other - Americans (need) Poles, and Poles (need) Americans, exactly to ensure mutual safety in Europe - we must also remember about civilian victims of war, or the Russian attack on Ukraine," mayor Dulkiewicz said. She also stressed that Americans appreciated Poles' efforts to help the Ukrainian war refugees.

Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said it was a huge honour for him to be visiting Gdańsk. He recalled that his mother, who had passed away 10 days before, loved the port city. He also mentioned his father - Zbigniew Brzezinski, who had had utmost respect for the people of Gdańsk.

"It was the people who rose up and fought for someting larger than themselves. That is what the people of Gdańsk are known for, that is what they did, that is memorialised with the statue behind me," Brzezinski said.

"But it's also what people of Gdańsk are doing today in welcoming, in showing that awesome Polish gościnność (hospitality - edit.) to more than 100,000 of Ukrainian refugees. So on behalf of the United States, mayor Aleksandra, I just want to say thank you, on behalf of president Biden, the Polish people - the people of Gdańsk are heroes," U.S. Ambassador said.

Ambassador Brzezinski said in an interview for TVN24 later on Tuesday that U.S. and Polish troops were working "shoulder to shoulder", and that "it sends the message to Putin that we're going to protect each other, and we're going to protect every square inch of Poland from what he's doing in the east".

"I'm pleased to see how much the U.S. and Poland is doing together today in terms of military cooperation, in terms of humanitarian relief, in terms of business to business collaboration, and new ideas and new innovation and execution, and in terms of connectivity between our peoples," he said.

"Never before has America and Poland so closely collaborated, because never before have we had a situation where we both share the same freedom," the ambassador added.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARK BRZEZINSKI BELOW