Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said that relations with Poland are in “a certain state of crisis” but urged both countries to move forward, warning that tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw only benefit Moscow.
The comments by Sybiha come against the backdrop of a diplomatic row sparked by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision last month to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World War II-era nationalist force.
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The UPA is regarded by many Ukrainians as an anti-Soviet independence movement, while in Poland it is mainly associated with the massacre of about 100,000 Polish civilians in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions between 1943 and 1945.
The bilateral dispute escalated after Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist, last week stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle – Poland’s highest state decoration – prompting several Ukrainian officials to return their Polish awards in protest.
‘Playing into Moscow’s hands’
On Friday, Sybiha urged both sides not to let historical disputes undermine their current wartime partnership.
He said bilateral relations were in “a certain state of crisis,” but added that the two countries needed to “move forward” because tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw “play into the hands of Moscow.”
“Ukraine is part of the European space. History shows that difficult pages of history, difficult moments of mutual relations occurred in every country on the European continent,” Sybiha said.
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He pointed to progress made in recent years on difficult historical issues, including joint search and exhumation work or Polish victims of the Volhynia massacre.
Partners in security
Sybiha said Ukraine remained ready for an “equal, honest and mutually beneficial” partnership with Poland, adding that the two countries needed each other in the security sphere.
“It is obvious that the security of Ukraine is also the security of Poland,” he added.
The foreign minister said Kyiv had demonstrated its commitment to the relationship by sending a high-level delegation led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to the Ukraine Recovery Conference held this week in Gdańsk, northern Poland.
‘We can only build the future on truth’
The ongoing dispute has tested relations between the two neighbors even though Poland remains one of Kyiv’s staunchest backers in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for calm and dialogue.
“We can only build the future on truth, mutual respect and an understanding of history,” Tusk said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Thursday.
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