Andrzej Duda in 2023<\/a> for his contribution to \u201cdeepening friendly and comprehensive relations between Warsaw and Kyiv\u201d.<\/p>\nDuda honoured Zelenskyy for also boosting bilateral cooperation in support of democracy, peace and security in Europe, and for his steadfastness in “defending the inalienable human rights.”<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also commented on the issue on Friday, stating: \u201cAfter that unfortunate move, namely the decision by the president of Ukraine to give the name of the UPA to a Ukrainian military unit, President Karol Nawrocki\u2019s reaction was understandable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suggested to the Ukrainian side that it should look for a solution. It brought this problem upon itself,\u201d said Tusk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suggested to the Ukrainian side that they should take this crisis of trust seriously when it comes to historical emotions. The role of both political elites, Ukrainian and Polish, is to look after each other\u2019s sensitivities,” he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha appealed to Poland for dialogue and stronger relations in response to the growing tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn escalation of tensions between Ukraine and Poland benefits neither Ukrainians nor Poles,\u201d Sybiha underlined.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor almost two years we have been gradually rebuilding constructive dialogue. We have unblocked searches and exhumations. With dignity and in line with Christian tradition, we have carried out reburials of victims in several places,\u201d the Ukrainian minister added.<\/p>\n
He also stressed that giving the unit the name \u201cHeroes of the UPA\u201d was initiated by Ukrainian soldiers, who \u201cdid not have even the slightest anti-Polish intentions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kyiv requests talks<\/p>\n
In the Polish capital, meetings between the head of President Zelenskyy\u2019s office and members of the government have been continuing for another day.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Budanov met Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki, which Warsaw says were arranged at Kyiv’s request.<\/p>\n
Historical policy and disputes over the UPA regularly resurface in Polish-Ukrainian relations.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was an armed formation operating between 1942 and 1949.<\/p>\n
Poland believes that the UPA is responsible for the genocide of the Polish population in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945. According to estimates by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and Polish historians, some 100,000 to 120,000 Poles were killed in UPA-affiliated operations.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian historians and politicians see these events as part of a two-sided wartime conflict and dispute the classification of \u201cgenocide\u201d used by Poland and confirmed in resolutions of the Polish Sejm and Senate.<\/p>\n
In Ukrainian public opinion, the UPA is regarded as a group of heroic fighters for Ukraine\u2019s independence, opposing all occupiers.<\/p>\n
But despite recurring tensions over historical issues, Poland has been actively supporting Ukraine since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and continues to be one of Kyiv’s main allies in its efforts to repel and fend off Moscow’s forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz met with the head of Ukraine\u2019s presidential office, Kyrylo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[95],"tags":[186,46789,51974,182,51976,51975,241,49969,3399,181],"class_list":["post-101500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-warsaw","tag-karol-nawrocki","tag-kyrylo-budanov","tag-military-unit","tag-poland","tag-president-of-ukraine","tag-presidential-office","tag-ukraine","tag-upa","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-warsaw"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116703823403816804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}