MOSCOW, July 26, Viktor Zhdanov. Warsaw promised to prevent accession Ukraine to the European Union until it resolves issues related to the Volyn massacre of 1943-1944. Kyiv does not agree with Poland's demands. About the principled dispute between neighbors — in the material.
Current pastPolish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh said that his country continues to support its partner, but their relations are negatively affected by events from history. “There will be no open borders, there will be no trade at the current level if the issue of Volyn is not resolved. We can clearly state this. We must not leave an unhealed wound,” the official emphasized.
Polish Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/f4e68c1b34b99f672bb261c4738718b1.jpg" />
Member of the Ukrainian Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Mykola Kniazhytskyi responded by saying that the issue of the Volyn tragedy is «a fabrication» and «PR in words.» Another MP, Volodymyr Vyatrovich, who previously headed the Institute of National Remembrance of Ukraine, wrote on social media that there are still those in Warsaw who are trying to tie current relations between the countries to assessments of the past, actualizing only the topic of the conflict.
However, this is not the first time Warsaw has made such a statement. «Kyiv has no reason to dream of joining the EU» until the remains of the victims of the Volyn massacre are exhumed, said Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Yablonsky last fall. Repentance alone is not enough.
Given that Poland considers itself Kyiv's closest ally, such statements indicate that the problem is of great principle. Polish media admit that Warsaw has not noticed the growth of Ukrainian nationalism for many years. In April 2015, the Rada adopted a bill on the rehabilitation of the UPA*, whose fighters became legally recognized «freedom fighters.» At that time, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski was in Ukraine.
«It was a slap in the face to the victims and their families, who still cannot bury their ancestors with dignity,» writes Polish historian and political scientist Przemyslaw Prekel. He notes that Kyiv is clearly interested not in studying the real history of the UPA*, but in creating a myth around it. At the same time, the crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists are forgotten.
March in memory of the victims of the Volyn massacre in Poland
Kyiv StandardWarsaw officially declared the actions of the UPA* in Volyn a genocide back in 2016. But Kyiv still does not recognize this. Polish diplomats demanded that Volodymyr Zelensky repent, but he only honored the memory of the victims together with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Lutsk on the 80th anniversary of the massacres and did not offer any official apologies.
In early July, three days before the next anniversary of the Volyn tragedy, Zelensky came to Warsaw to sign military agreements and ask for new help. However, he decided not to speak out on the sensitive topic.
Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk and President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv
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«It is not surprising that the head of the Ukrainian state did not even hint at the upcoming anniversary. This is the Kiev standard. But the fact that none of the Polish politicians who met with him did so is already a scandal,» writes Rzeczpospolita.
Last week, the reason for the discord was the unveiling of a monument to the victims of the Volyn massacre in Domostaw in the presence of a thousand Poles. The head of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, Miroslav Skurka, claims that the monument «is intended to awaken hatred in Polish-Ukrainian relations.» Allegedly, this approach to the historical problem asserts «a half-truth about what happened in Volyn.»
«For Poles, the Volyn massacre is a very painful moment, which they are going through hard. Even at the level of political elites, there is a cross-party agreement that one of Warsaw's most important tasks in the Ukrainian direction is to obtain recognition of the genocide from Kiev. Any Polish politician in power, if he does not make appropriate statements, risks hearing accusations of national treason,» Oleg Nemensky, a leading expert at RISI, noted in an interview.
A memorial plaque with the names of Poles killed in Volyn
Polish outrageIn Ukraine, the exhumation of the victims of the tragedy has been effectively suspended since 2017. Warsaw has been waiting for almost a year for permission from the Kyiv authorities to work in Puzhniki, where the burials of murdered Poles were discovered in August 2023. Polish journalists believe that the Ukrainians are deliberately delaying the case, citing procedural formalities.
At the same time, Kyiv allowed Germany to exhume the remains of Nazi soldiers and officers who died in World War II. «These works are carried out throughout Ukraine, not only in the western regions, but also in the front line. There, when digging trenches, many German burials are found. Naturally, the Poles are outraged that their ancestors cannot be exhumed, but the Nazis can,» explains Nemensky.
Exhumation of the remains of the victims of the Volyn massacre
“The disagreement with the exhumation can be explained by the fear of the Ukrainian authorities,” says Polish expert Prekel. “The number of victims is truly frightening.”
Officially, Warsaw claims one hundred thousand Poles were killed. The Volyn massacre is not an accidental incident, but the result of the influence of nationalism, which strives for an ethnically united Ukraine by exterminating representatives of other nationalities, the Polish press emphasizes.
Unveiling of a memorial sign to the leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army* Roman Shukhevych in Lviv. November 21, 2017
Nemensky explains Kyiv's stubbornness by the very ideology of the Ukrainian state. Recognition of the genocide, which killed tens of thousands of people, means that the declared «national heroes» are in fact the same war criminals as the Nazis convicted at Nuremberg. This threatens to colossally discredit the Kyiv regime in the eyes of the international community, and support for Ukraine may become the subject of even greater discussions in the West.
Andrzej Duda, in turn, says that Warsaw should not put excessive pressure on Kyiv and issue ultimatums. The Polish authorities fear that this could really spoil relations between the countries and lead to the weakening of Ukraine. Serious historical issues and the memory of fallen ancestors fade into the background when it comes to confrontation with Russia. However, it is obvious that Volyn has not been forgotten — sooner or later the Kyiv regime will have to answer to its Polish partners as well.
* An extremist organization banned in Russia.