The President of the Republic of Poland, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Andrzej Duda, together with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda and the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak took part in a Christmas meeting with soldiers of the Polish Army, officers of the Police, Border Guard and National Fire Service, as well as soldiers of allied armies.

“It is good that we are together, as together you serve the Republic and the security of its citizens, as together you served, fighting the coronavirus pandemic, as together you served confronting the crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, as together you served in the face of the war caused by Russia in Ukraine, supporting refugees coming from Ukraine to Poland, as together you acted this summer in western Poland against the ecological disaster on the Oder River”, said President Andrzej Duda during a meeting at the 1. Podhale Rifle Battalion in Rzeszów.

He stressed that “all these very difficult events, occurring one after another in recent times, have made you work closely together as never before: the army together with other uniformed formations, also with volunteers.

“You have proved the excellent way of serving your homeland. You have shown that Poland and people living and arriving in Poland who need help can count on you”, said President Duda.

Agata Kornhauser-Duda expressed her thanks and gratitude for the attitude and actions towards Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and especially the consequences of this war. “I have had the opportunity to cooperate in actions and projects with many of you and I am grateful for this collaboration, but also for the fact that your actions were not only the result of a sense of duty, but above all of a need of the heart,” she added.

Adrian Andrzejewski