Councillors from Law and Justice (PiS) in Kraków sought to have the City Council adopt a resolution opposing plans by the Lviv Oblast Council to commemorate the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). However, the proposal was not added to the agenda of the extraordinary council session. City officials justified the decision by citing the lack of unanimous support among the political groups, while the authors of the resolution argued that Kraków – as Lviv’s partner city – should take a clear position on the matter.
On July 6, the Culture Committee of the Lviv Oblast Council proposed declaring 2027 the Year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) activist Oleh Olzhych, and Roman Shukhevych – the commander-in-chief of the UPA during the period when the organization carried out mass murders of Poles and Jews.
During Friday’s extraordinary session, Kraków City Council Vice Chairman Michał Drewnicki (Law and Justice (PiS)) submitted a motion to include on the agenda a debate on the resolution prepared by PiS councillors opposing the initiative of the Lviv Oblast Council.
According to Drewnicki, Kraków should speak out on the issue as Lviv’s partner city, whose residents and councillors have supported Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The motion was rejected by City Secretary Antoni Fryczek, representing acting Mayor Stanisław Kracik. Fryczek explained that the proposal could not be added because there was no unanimous agreement among all political groups in the council. He said that, in consultation with the acting mayor, only items supported by every council group would be included in the session agenda.
Earlier on Friday, at a press conference before the council session, Drewnicki announced that the resolution was addressed both to the Lviv Oblast Council, which proposed the initiative, and to the councillors and mayor of Lviv. He stressed that the authors of the resolution opposed “the glorification of criminals and of an organization responsible for genocide.”
“In this resolution, we express our deep opposition and disapproval. At the same time, we believe that if the Ukrainian authorities aspire to become part of Europe, the European Union, and our circle of civilization, then there can be no place for glorifying such attitudes, such individuals, or such organizations,” Drewnicki said.
The activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) remain one of the most contentious issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
According to Polish historians, in July 1943 UPA units carried out coordinated attacks on approximately 150 Polish-inhabited localities in Volhynia, marking the peak of what is known in Poland as the Volhynia Genocide. Researchers estimate that between February 1943 and the spring of 1945, more than 100,000 Poles were killed in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. The perpetrators are identified as members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – Bandera faction (OUN-B) and its subordinate military formation, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).