Poland has set out its position on the UPA to Budanova
Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote about this on the social media platform X.
Poland raised the issue of historical memory
According to the Polish minister, during a meeting with Kyrylo Budanov, he outlined Warsaw’s position on the decision to name one of the Ukrainian military units after the UPA.
“Poland and Ukraine are partners on security matters. But when it comes to history, we must tell each other the truth, because only then can we build the future,” Kosiniak-Kamysz noted.
He added that the memory of the victims of the Volhynia tragedy “is not a matter for negotiation” and is an issue on which Poland has a principled stance.
Why the dispute arose
As previously reported by The Public, Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that he would seek to overturn the decision to grant the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit the honorary title “in the name of the Heroes of the UPA”. This refers to a decree issued by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 26 May, by which the Separate Special Operations Centre “North” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Special Operations Forces received the aforementioned name. Kosiński-Kamysz stated that he had conveyed Warsaw’s position to the Ukrainian side and considers this issue sensitive for Polish society due to the memory of the Volhynia tragedy. At the same time, officials in Kyiv explained that for the Ukrainian military, the UPA’s struggle symbolises resistance to Moscow’s imperial policies, and that the decision to grant the honorary name was not directed against the Polish people.
Ukraine and Poland continue military cooperation
Despite differences in the assessment of certain historical events, Poland remains one of Ukraine’s key partners in the defence sector following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. At the same time, the issue of the UPA and the Volhynia tragedy has remained one of the most complex topics in Ukrainian-Polish relations for many years.
Follow us on Telegram
