Storm in Poland after Volodymyr Zelensky's decision. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explains
On Wednesday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky named one of the units of his country's Armed Forces the name of “UPA Heroes”. He explained that he did it “in order to restore the historical traditions of the national army and taking into account the exemplary performance of entrusted tasks while defending the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army concerned by this decision is responsible for mass crimes against the Polish population in Volhynia.
Heorhiy Tychyy, spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed regret that the storm over Volodymyr Zelensky's decision occurred “contrary to the broader trend of solving problematic issues in Ukrainian-Polish relations, observed for a year and a half.”
In an interview with the “Europejska Pravda” portal, he recalled that recently both sides have made many efforts to “resolve complex issues from the historical past, establish dialogue and understanding.” He gave an example of, among others: resumption of the process of searching and exhumation of the victims of the Volhynia tragedy and resumption of the activities of the Congress of Historians.
— Discussion about the past should be professional and based on reliable sources. Our history confirms that only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukrainians and Poles, he added. At the same time, he assured that the fighters of the unit, which was named after UPA heroes, “certainly had no intention of insulting the friendly Polish nation.”
— For them, the UPA fight symbolizes only opposition to Moscow's imperial policy and is in no way directed against Poles, he added.
— We cannot allow the disputes of the past to weaken our resistance to the common enemy now that Ukraine, with the support of Poland, is stopping Russian aggression. We are grateful to Poland and the Poles who supported Ukraine from the first minutes of this unprovoked and criminal war. For our part, we emphasize our readiness to continue sharing the experience and achievements gained with blood on the battlefield, said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
A wave of criticism in Poland after the decision of the President of Ukraine
