Vice-Marshal of the Polish Senate Magdalena Bejat, associated with the New Left party, believes that this political force has the best approach to Ukrainian-Polish relations, based on honesty, pragmatism and empathy, ZN correspondent reports. U.A.. In her opinion, Warsaw and Kyiv should build future relations based on the idea that together they will be stronger, however, in both countries there are politicians who, for the sake of domestic political interests, “warm up” elements that provoke hostility. The controversy surrounding the Order of the White Eagle once again confirmed this.
" Volyn 10 years ago was not a topic at all in the Polish public sphere, or certainly not a topic of discussion to the extent it is now, says Bejat. “For us, Poles, recognition of the victims of the Volyn tragedy, recognition of the role of the UPA in it is important.”.
Warsaw will always demand the exhumation of the bodies of the victims and their recognition by Ukraine. But it would be wrong if this issue “slows down” relations between states or becomes a factor determining them, says the vice-marshal, agreeing that this point of view is still unpopular in Poland.
Separately, she mentioned the role of the Russian Federation in this topic, namely Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns on social networks, which have an active influence, especially on far-right politicians.
“The left forces, not only here, but throughout Europe, are beginning to lag behind, and the right forces, the extreme right forces, are coming to the fore. We can talk about this for a very long time, what are the reasons for this in this process,” warns Beyat.
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Tensions between the countries increased significantly after Karol Nawrocki became President of Poland.. In relations with Ukraine, his team focused on what it calls resolving “historical issues”: Warsaw demands that Kyiv exhume the bodies of the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Volyn in 1943–1944 (such work is already underway), and reconsider approaches to honoring the memory of OUN-UPA figures. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side defends the view that questions of history should be studied by historians, not politicians, and that the past should not influence relations between countries now, especially in the face of the Russian threat. However, the parties have not yet reached a compromise, and President Zelensky’s decision to assign the honorary name “named after the Heroes of the UPA” to the special forces unit of the Special Forces led to what can be interpreted as the apogee of the crisis between Ukraine and Poland.
Despite the fact that echoes of the old conflict still remind us of it, a new test looms on the horizon of Ukrainian-Polish relations. On August 23, Zelensky signed the Law “On the Ukrainian National Pantheon,” which provides for the possibility of honoring the memory of individuals “who, through their struggle for independence, inspire Ukrainians to be strong.”. This also applies to UPA commanders, which the Poles expectedly did not like. As a result, Warsaw once again threatened that the appearance of such figures as Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in the National Pantheon would create serious problems for Ukraine on the path to joining the European Union.
Read about how Ukraine and Poland can get out of the crisis in the article “Four Ways of Reconciliation: How to Save Ukrainian-Polish Relations” by the executive director of the International Fund for Regeneration, Alexander Sushko..