Poland, Ukraine strike conciliatory tone at reconstruction conference
Key takeaways
- Kyiv sent Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko instead who struck a friendly tone and didn't mention the historical disagreements.
- By: FRANCE 24 Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomes Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to the Conference on Ukraine’s Recovery in Gdańsk, Poland, on June 25, 2026.
- Ukraine's economy has been decimated by the Russian invasion and requires hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in reconstruction.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A landmark conference on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction opened on Thursday in Poland without President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is snubbing the event over a diplomatic row with ally Warsaw and weeks of squabbling over historical differences. Kyiv sent Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko instead who struck a friendly tone and didn't mention the historical disagreements.
By: FRANCE 24 Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomes Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to the Conference on Ukraine’s Recovery in Gdańsk, Poland, on June 25, 2026. © Lukasz Glowala, Reuters Poland and Ukraine struck a conciliatory tone Thursday as they opened the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Polish port of Gdansk after weeks of squabbling over historical differences – albeit without President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on the West to believe a post-war Ukraine will "rise from the ruins" like his native city Gdansk, largely destroyed during World War II, as he tried to dampen the diplomatic spat with Kyiv.