Poland's premier: Zelensky 'most outstanding leader of 21st century'

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hailed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a defender of European values.

Zelensky was "a great European leader", a "hero" and "the most outstanding leader on an international stage in the 21st century," Morawiecki said on Sunday during the award ceremony of the Charlemagne prize to Zelensky and the Ukrainian people in the western German city of Aachen.

"President Zelensky is a role model for every politician," the Polish leader said, as Zelensky, who is in Aachen to accept the prize in person, listened from a stage behind him. Russia's "barbaric attacks", on the other hand, were the antithesis of the free Europe defended by Ukraine, according to Morawiecki.

In his speech, Morawiecki quoted former French foreign minister and pioneer of European unification, Robert Schuman, who had said that a united Europe must in principle be open to every democratic European country. Ukraine's accession to the European Union is one of Zelensky's most important goals.