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Poland’s prime minister told a press conference on Monday that the Polish government was very critical of any attempts to glorify Ukrainian World War Two nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
Bandera’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was responsible for the 1943-45 Volhynia Massacre in which Ukrainian nationalists slaughtered around 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia and East Galicia regions, which belonged to Poland before the war.
“We are extremely critical of any moves to glorify Stepan Bandera, there can be no nuances here,”
Mateusz Morawiecki said.
He added that he planned to take up the matter “very, very strongly” during his next talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Morawiecki’s statement referred to the Ukrainian parliament’s commemoration on Sunday of Bandera, a Ukrainian wartime nationalist leader who remains a deeply divisive historical figure. To some, he is a hero who fought for a free Ukraine, while to others he is a criminal responsible for the murder of thousands of Poles and Jews.