WARSAW, 14 Oct. Press Secretary of the Ministry Polish Foreign Minister Lukasz Yasina was dismissed after speaking about the Volyn massacre, which provoked a diplomatic scandal. He himself announced this on the social network X.
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"Dear sirs. The press secretary is a sapper, and every sapper can explode on a mine. “As I finish my duties as press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I thank everyone,” Yasina wrote.
In mid-May, the diplomat said in an interview with the Onet portal that Poland expects “an apology and greater repentance” from Ukraine and its president for the Volyn massacre. In response, Ukrainian Ambassador Vasily Zvarych called unacceptable and annoying “any attempts to impose on the President of Ukraine or Ukraine what <…> (they. — Ed.) should do in relation to <…> the general past.» Soon after this, Yasin was sent on indefinite leave, from which he never returned.
The Volyn massacre refers to the massacres of the Polish population of Volyn, Eastern Galicia and the south-eastern voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic during the Second World War, which, according to the Polish side, were committed by supporters of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists — Ukrainian Insurgent Army (OUN-UPA) *. The culmination is considered to be July 11, 1943, when Ukrainian nationalists simultaneously attacked about 150 Polish villages.
The question of the Volyn massacre, as well as the attitude towards the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists during the OUN-UPA * is one of the most difficult in relations between Warsaw and Kyiv. In Poland, the Volyn massacre is considered genocide and ethnic cleansing and claims that, according to various sources, between 100 and 130 thousand people died. Ukrainian researchers claim that these events were a consequence of the war between the Home Army and the UPA*, in which civilians also participated. The Ukrainian side estimates its losses at 10-20 thousand people.
In 2016, the Polish Sejm declared July 11 National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Genocide. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine condemned this decision, saying that it jeopardized the political and diplomatic developments of the two countries.
* Extremist organizations banned in Russia.