Abstract
With the collapse of the Soviet system and the start of systemic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe, which began at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, there was an urgent need to review the existing system of international relations and find new formats for interstate and interethnic relations development. Polish-Ukrainian relations were no exception in this process.
 In the period of 1989-1999, Ukraine occupied a very important place in the foreign policy of the Republic of Poland, holding a leading position in Polish Eastern policy. It is at this time that the bilateral relations of young independent states were being formed and developed, which took an evolutionary step by establishing and supporting good neighborly relations to the level of strategic partnership. Eastern policy was the key to the positive dynamics of the development of Polish-Ukrainian relations; it has been tested and successfully implemented by the Polish governments of Solidarity since the early 1990s.
 The main goal of Polish Eastern policy was to respond to the changes taking place on the eastern border of the Republic of Poland and to establish relations with the former republics of the Soviet Union, especially those that shared a border with Poland. This was predetermined by the desire to preserve the territorial integrity of the Republic of Poland and by the considerations of national security. The very formation and evolution of Polish-Ukrainian relations in the period of 1989-1999, known in history as the period of Poland's implementation of Eastern policy, are analyzed in this article.
Highlights
The main goal of Polish Eastern policy was to respond to the changes taking place on the eastern border of the Republic of Poland and to establish relations with the former republics of the Soviet Union, especially those that shared a border with Poland
The victory of Solidarity in the Republic of Poland in the elections of June 4, 1989, was the beginning of a new period in the country’s history, but it brought to the fore of the Polish political elite the question of Eastern policy forms
The path to strategic partnership was paved by both countries with maximum effort and goodwill
Summary
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the increasingly clear declarations of independence of its republics, including Ukraine, affected the need for Polish diplomacy to accept new geopolitical realities with special sobriety and caution and to join the international political life of the region. These circumstances made the political elite of the Republic of Poland approach the formation of foreign policy carefully and cautiously. The main goal of Polish Eastern policy was to respond to the changes taking place on the eastern border of the Republic of Poland and to establish relations with the former republics of the Soviet Union, especially those that shared a border with Poland. As the closest eastern neighbor of the Republic of Poland, as well as the country with which Poland has the longest border, took a central position in the Eastern policy
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