Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, jointly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the 1943 UPA massacre in Volhynia, when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) members massacred thousands of Poles, a longtime bone of contention between Warsaw and Kyiv.
During WWII, UPA members, the military wing of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, massacred thousands of Poles throughout the Volhynia region in Nazi-occupied Poland, which used to be a reason for divisions in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
“Together, we honour all the innocent victims of Volyn (massacre). Memory unites us! Together we are stronger,” Zelenskyy commented on the joint commemoration on social media.
Duda and Zelenskyy participated in an ecumenical service at the Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Lutsk, Volhynia, laying candles at the altar. Their visit to the city had not been announced in advance.
The service was presided over in the church by Stanisław Gądecki, the head of Poland’s Catholic Church, and Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who leads the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. On Friday, they signed a joint declaration commemorating the anniversary.
During the joint visit to Lutsk, Duda and Zelenskyy they had a 10-minute talk during a walk between the Cathedral and the Lutsk Castle. They discussed the incoming NATO summit that will take place in Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The massacre, in which, according to historians, tens of thousands of Poles perished, has continued to hang over ties between the two nations. In 2013, the Polish parliament recognised it as “an ethnic cleansing bearing the hallmarks of genocide.”
Many Ukrainians disagree with such a view. Some historians accept the genocide classification but call it a “bilateral genocide,” arguing that the UPA army was also responsible for crimes against Ukrainian civilians that were equivalent in nature.
Earlier this year, Ukraine expressed outrage after Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Łukasz Jasina said that Zelenskyy should publicly apologise to Poland for the Volhynia massacres to mark the event’s 80th anniversary.
About 78% of Poles agree that the Ukrainian president should issue an apology for the 1943 massacre, according to the Polish Public Opinion Research (CBOS).
Half of the respondents believe that he should apologise right now, whereas 28% agree that he should, but the right time for that will come after the war in Ukraine ends.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
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