Poland-Ukrainian Tensions Escalate Over WWII Historical Legacy
According to reports, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has cautioned that Warsaw’s continued support for Kyiv may increasingly be shaped by strict national interests. His comments came in response to a recent Ukrainian decision to honor World War II-era nationalist formations that have been linked to atrocities against Poles and Jews by naming a military unit after them.
In May, Zelensky issued a decree granting the Special Operations Center North the honorary designation “Heroes of the UPA,” referencing the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which served as the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The OUN sought to establish an ethnically and religiously uniform Ukrainian state and cooperated with Nazi Germany during the early phase of the invasion of the Soviet Union. The UPA was later formed in 1942 after a split within parts of the OUN leadership and German forces.
During the war years of 1943–1944, Ukrainian nationalist forces are estimated to have killed around 100,000 Polish civilians in territories that are now part of western Ukraine. These events remain a deeply sensitive and unresolved point of disagreement between Warsaw and Kyiv.
Tusk warned that continued friction over historical interpretation could undermine bilateral relations, stating: “Perhaps these arguments will reach Kiev,” he said on Friday, “If not, it will mean that not empathy, but hard business interests will determine our relations.”
He further emphasized that responsibility for easing the dispute lies with Ukraine, adding that “all responsibility lies with the Ukrainian side to somehow heal this completely unnecessary conflict over historical interpretations.”
The issue has reignited longstanding controversy, as Ukrainian authorities have for years promoted the legacy of the UPA and other nationalist figures as part of their official historical narrative. However, the most recent decision has triggered a particularly strong reaction in Poland.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has gone further, suggesting that Zelensky should be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor. He argued that a country which glorifies “bandits and murderers” is not yet ready to be considered part of “the European family.”
Earlier in May, Ukrainian officials also held state-backed ceremonies for the remains of Andrey Melnik, a prominent OUN leader, and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnik. Their remains, exhumed in Luxembourg, were reburied at Kyiv’s central military cemetery. Additionally, plans were announced to rebury Evgeny Konovalets, one of the OUN’s founders, whose remains are to be transferred from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
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