President Duda for TVN24: I felt embittered, but Zelenskiy is still my friend

President Andrzej Duda on Thursday spoke with "Fakty" TVN correspondent in the United States Marcin Wrona. He was asked, among other things, about the latest developments in the Polish-Ukrainian relations as well as his reaction to what the Ukrainian president said earlier this week.

In his address given on Tuesday before the UN General Assembly, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that "it is alarming to see how some in Europe play out solidarity in a political theatre – making thriller from the grain".

"They may seem to play their own role but in fact they are helping set the stage to a Moscow actor," the Ukrainian president added.

Duda said that although Zelenskiy had not mentioned Poland explicitly, the Polish side understood who he had in mind. "I felt bad in that moment because I thought it was not fair what he said."

Asked if he was anxious after hearing Zelenskiy's words, he replied: "Anxious is too big a word. I was embittered".

The Polish president added, however, that this dispute pertained only "to a small fragment of our relations". "Let's not make it affect the big picture, as there is no justification for that and only others would benefit from it."

Asked why with he had not spoken with Zelenskiy at the sidelines of the U.N. summit, Duda said that they could not meet due to his General Assembly address.

He added, however, that he had been available later on and if the Ukrainian side had expressed the need, then this meeting would have happened.

Andrzej Duda also said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy was still his friend and that he would certainly speak with him in the future face to face, "just like two friends would in order to settle various difficult affairs".

On Thursday, Ukraine's agriculture minister, in a phone call with his Polish counterpart, agreed to work out a solution to the grain dispute in the interests of both countries.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych said that he thought an accord with Poland on the grain issue could be reached. "There is no person in Ukraine who would be interested in creating any problems for Polish farmers," he added.

Asked about the dispute over Ukrainian grain imports to Poland, Duda said that "both sides need to understand each other" in this situation.

"We would like the Ukrainian side to understand us a little too. We cannot just let the market crash because we have a problem," the president added.

"Of course, it's easy to just sell the grain anywhere and get the money. Our neighbors took that path. But this isn't in our interest and we have to protect our market here, and from that persective, it's hard not to understand the decisions made by the Polish government in that regard," he explained.

"We need to find a happy medium and somehow solve this issue."

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday that Poland was no longer arming Ukraine as it was focusing on building up its own stocks of weapons.

Asked about Morawiecki's comment, Duda said "the prime minister's words have been misinterpreted in the worst possible way".

He explained that the head of the government had only meantto say that Poland would not send Ukraine the military equipment purchased recently to strengthen and modernize the Polish Armed Forces

"We will not be sending these arms because we are buying them to modernize the Polish army," the president stressed.

"I will be the first one to protest against handing over this new equipment that we're receiving from South Korea or the United States, like the new Abramses, the Patriot launchers, or HIMARSes," he added.