Poland’s president has declared he has always been unwavering in his support for Ukraine after being criticised for saying he was unsure whether Kyiv would be able to regain control of Crimea. Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded the country in 2022 and has said Ukraine must regain control over all of its territory in order to deter Moscow from further aggression. Andrzej Duda reiterated this position during an interview on the YouTube channel Kanał Zero on Friday. However, when asked if he believed Ukraine would really be able to retake Crimea, he said: “It is hard for me to answer that question. I don’t know if [Ukraine] will regain Crimea, but I believe it will regain Donetsk and Luhansk.” He said the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, was “a special place … also for historical reasons. Because in fact, if we look historically, it was in Russia’s hands for most of the time”. Parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine were also taken by Moscow-backed forces in 2014 and have been embattled during the course of the current war, unlike Crimea. Ukraine has vowed to recover every inch of its territory, including Crimea. The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, wrote on X: “Crimea is Ukraine: it is and will remain so. The de-occupation of Crimea is our shared task and obligation with the free world.” Duda’s remarks were criticised by lawmakers from Poland’s ruling pro-European coalition, who are in a different political camp to the president. The president is an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost power in December after failing to build a coalition following the loss of its majority in an October election. Roman Giertych, a lawmaker from the largest grouping in the government, Civic Coalition (KO), wrote on X: “I would like to remind Mr Duda that there are cities in our country that in their history belonged to Poland for a shorter time than to another country. What an incredibly stupid statement!” On Saturday, Duda sought to defuse the row, saying in a post on X that his “actions and position on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine have been and are clear from day one”. He added: “Russia’s attack on Ukraine and occupation of internationally recognised territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, is a crime … We all stand shoulder to shoulder for a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine against aggression and brutal imperialism!” Meanwhile, two Ukrainian drones struck a primary oil processing facility at the Volgograd oil refinery in southern Russia on Saturday in an operation conducted by the SBU security service, a Ukrainian source told Reuters. Local authorities in Russia said earlier that a fire had been extinguished at the large refinery, owned by Lukoil, after a drone attack. The strike is the latest in a recent series of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Russian oil facilities, infrastructure that Kyiv sees as important for the Kremlin’s war effort. The source in Kyiv told Reuters such drone attacks would continue. “By hitting oil refineries working for the Russian military-industrial complex, we not only cut off the logistics of fuel supplies for enemy equipment, but also reduce the filling of the Russian budget,” the source said. The distance from the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the southern Russian city of Volgograd is more than 370 miles (600km). Russia has been conducting regular long-range missile strikes on targets in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion, prompting Kyiv to find a way to close the gap on Moscow’s more advanced military technology. It has sought to spur innovation in drone technology and to support the production of long-range drones.