https://sputnikglobe.com/20241013/zelensky-left-seething-after-meeting-with-polish-minister-over-wwii-massacre-by-ukrainian-fascists-1120535618.html
Zelensky ‘Left Seething’ After Meeting With Polish Minister Over WWII Massacre by Ukrainian Fascists
Zelensky ‘Left Seething’ After Meeting With Polish Minister Over WWII Massacre by Ukrainian Fascists
Sputnik International
Poland’s political class has generally been at the forefront of powers cheerleading Ukraine’s entry into Western institutions including NATO and the European Union, notwithstanding underlying tensions over the World War II-era massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Poles by Ukrainian ultranationalists lionized by the post-2014 regime in Kiev.
2024-10-13T15:44+0000
2024-10-13T15:44+0000
2024-10-13T15:53+0000
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stepan bandera
roman shukhevych
ukraine
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european union (eu)
ukrainian insurgent army (upa)
nato
volyn
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Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly “left seething” after last month’s meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who impeded the Kiev regime’s aspirations to join the EU by tying the issue to demands that ethnic Poles killed by Ukrainian fascists during WWII be exhumed from their final resting places in what is now western Ukraine.Sources told Bloomberg about the tensions, which are said to have coincided “with mounting war fatigue” among Kiev’s Western sponsors, and growing uncertainty over post-2014 Ukraine’s constitutionally-mandated pursuit of membership in the EU and NATO.In post-2005 Orange Revolution Ukraine and especially after 2014, UPA leaders Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych have been idolized as heroes and fighters for Ukraine’s independence, with monuments erected in their honor and streets renamed to carry their names in cities across the country. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich revoked his predecessor’s decision to posthumously award Bandera and Shukhevych ‘hero of Ukraine’ titles in 2011 prior to his ouster in a coup three years later.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk hinted as much at a press conference in August, saying “there is a need to dig into this history [of the WWII-era massacres, ed.] if we are about to build a good future,” and warning that “as long as there is no respect for those standards from the Ukrainian side, then Ukraine will certainly not become part of the European family.”But the matter could be a risky endeavor to undertake for Zelensky, who discovered shortly after taking office in 2019 the power wielded by pro-Bandera ultranationalists in Kiev, nearly getting ousted for expressing support for the Steinmeier formula for peace in the Donbass. An admission of guilt for UPA’s crimes against Poles may trigger similar protests from the powerful informal lobby of jackbooted thugs.A Polish government official told Bloomberg that failure to resolve the bitter history will create “an opening for extremists” and could undermine Warsaw’s support for Kiev.Despite their strategic partnership, officials and politicians in Warsaw have not shied away from slamming Kiev’s displays of affection for Bandera and the UPA. Last year on the 80th anniversary of the massacres, former Sejm lawmaker Mateusz Piskorski suggested that the Zelensky regime’s “war as anti-Russian puppets of the Anglo-Saxons is none of our business,” and that it was “idiotic” for Warsaw to “talk about some kind of brotherhood and strategic partnership” with a country that considers Bandera and Shukhevych heroes.Poland has contributed nearly $5 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022, and its political elites have been active supporters of a US-led effort to turn Ukraine into an ‘anti-Russia’ designed to weaken and divide its eastern neighbors going back to the early 1990s.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230701/poles-chide-warsaw-for-cozying-up-with-kiev-as-wwii-massacre-anniversary-nears-1111606616.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230717/polish-politician-slams-idiotic-ukrainian-partnership-talk-amid-praise-for-wwii-fascists-1111949160.html
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does ukraine whitewash fascists, who are bandera and shukhevych, what is ukraine's upa, is upa fascist
does ukraine whitewash fascists, who are bandera and shukhevych, what is ukraine's upa, is upa fascist
Zelensky ‘Left Seething’ After Meeting With Polish Minister Over WWII Massacre by Ukrainian Fascists
15:44 GMT 13.10.2024 (Updated: 15:53 GMT 13.10.2024) Poland’s political class has generally been at the forefront of powers cheerleading Ukraine’s entry into Western institutions including NATO and the European Union, notwithstanding underlying tensions over the World War II-era massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Poles by Ukrainian ultranationalists lionized by the post-2014 regime in Kiev.
Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly “left seething” after last month’s meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who impeded the Kiev regime’s aspirations to join the EU by tying the issue to demands that ethnic Poles killed by Ukrainian fascists during WWII be exhumed from their final resting places in what is now western Ukraine.
Sources
told Bloomberg about the tensions, which are said to have coincided “with mounting war fatigue” among Kiev’s Western sponsors, and growing uncertainty over post-2014 Ukraine’s constitutionally-mandated pursuit of membership in the EU and NATO.
As many as 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians and tens of thousands of Russians, Jews, anti-fascist Ukrainians were murdered en masse by members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian acronym UPA) – an ultranationalist militia operating in Nazi-occupied western Ukraine during the second World War. Killings and terrorism largely took place between 1943-1944, but continued into the early 1950s. Between 100,000 and 200,000 Ukrainians would fight in the UPA, compared to over six million who served in the Red Army.
In post-2005 Orange Revolution Ukraine and especially after 2014, UPA leaders Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych have been idolized as heroes and fighters for Ukraine’s independence, with monuments erected in their honor and streets renamed to carry their names in cities across the country. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich revoked his predecessor’s decision to posthumously award Bandera and Shukhevych ‘hero of Ukraine’ titles in 2011 prior to his ouster in a coup three years later.
Polish Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz
announced publicly last week that Kiev “will not join the EU if it does not address the Volyn issue, if there is no accord, no exhumations and no remembrance.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk hinted as much at a press conference in August, saying “there is a need to dig into this history [of the WWII-era massacres, ed.] if we are about to build a good future,” and warning that “as long as there is no respect for those standards from the Ukrainian side, then Ukraine will certainly not become part of the European family.”
But the matter could be a risky endeavor to undertake for Zelensky, who discovered shortly after taking office in 2019 the power wielded by pro-Bandera ultranationalists in Kiev,
nearly getting ousted for expressing support for the Steinmeier formula for peace in the Donbass. An admission of guilt for UPA’s crimes against Poles may trigger similar protests from the powerful informal lobby of jackbooted thugs.
A Polish government official told Bloomberg that failure to resolve the bitter history will create “an opening for extremists” and could undermine Warsaw’s support for Kiev.
Despite their strategic partnership, officials and politicians in Warsaw have not shied away from slamming Kiev’s displays of affection for Bandera and the UPA. Last year on the 80th anniversary of the massacres, former Sejm lawmaker Mateusz Piskorski suggested that the Zelensky regime’s “war as anti-Russian puppets of the Anglo-Saxons is none of our business,” and that it was “idiotic” for Warsaw to “talk about some kind of brotherhood and strategic partnership” with a country that considers Bandera and Shukhevych heroes.
“If we don’t interfere, let’s stop financing the state that appeals to neo-Banderism, let’s end the risky delivery of arms and equipment, the multi-billion [zloty] tranches of non-repayable aid. After all, we would not support Germany if the authorities in that country began erecting busts of Heinrich Himmler and monuments to Adolf Hitler,” Piskorski urged.
Poland has contributed nearly $5 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022, and its political elites have been active supporters of a US-led effort to turn Ukraine into an ‘anti-Russia’ designed to weaken and divide its eastern neighbors going back to the early 1990s.
