Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has pledged continued support for Ukraine despite an ongoing historical dispute between the two countries.
Despite the emotions involved, Poland stands by Ukraine in its confrontation with Russia, Tusk said at a meeting of the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Poland and Italy in Berlin on Wednesday evening.
He said it was particularly important, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in two weeks, to preserve unity both as Europe and as a trans-Atlantic community.
Tusk also stressed that everything would be done to ensure that countries on NATO's eastern flank - directly threatened by Moscow's aggressive policies - were represented in all negotiating formats.
Without Poland, the Scandinavian and Baltic States and Romania, it would be difficult to achieve anything in this "confrontation of civilizations" with Russia, he said.
The Ukraine reconstruction conference opening in the Polish port city of Gdańsk on Thursday is being overshadowed by a dispute between Warsaw and Kiev. Poland's conservative President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of a high Polish state honour.
The row, which has been simmering for weeks, was triggered by Zelensky, who named a military unit after Ukrainian underground fighters from World War II. Those fighters are also held responsible for massacres of tens of thousands of Poles and Jews in what is now western Ukraine. Zelensky's move provoked widespread outrage in Poland.
Zelensky is expected to be represented at the reconstruction conference by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
