Tusk\u2019s announcement came on the eve of the anniversary of \u201cBloody Sunday\u201d in 1943, when units from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) killed thousands of Poles in Volhynia, now in northwest Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\t According to Poland, between 70,000 and 100,000 civilians were killed between 1943 and 1945, while reprisals are thought to have claimed the lives of up to 12,000 Ukrainians.<\/p>\n The UPA and the OUN are seen in Ukraine as groups that fought for independence against the Red Army and the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky caused outrage in Poland in May by announcing that he was naming a military unit after the UPA.<\/p>\n In retaliation, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the country\u2019s highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle.<\/p>\n Heal wounds<\/p>\n Tusk, a former president of the European Council and a staunch backer of Ukraine against Russia, said \u201cmemory and truth must help us build a better future, without hatred and without contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Europe of peace and mutual respect, the Europe reconciled after World War II, was made possible thanks to truth and to calling things by their name.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever wants to join this community must be ready for this truth.\u201d<\/p>\n In Olyka, northwest Ukraine, Poland\u2019s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told a commemorative ceremony that Warsaw and Kyiv needed to \u201cmove forward together\u201d to \u201cbuild a better future by accepting responsibility for the past.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cFriendship means telling each other the truth, even the difficult truth,\u201d he said, adding that he was \u201cnot here to reopen old wounds but to heal them.\u201d<\/p>\n In Warsaw, Ukraine\u2019s Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar, laid a wreath in memory of \u201call victims of the Second World War, whether Polish or Ukrainian.\u201d<\/p>\n He called for \u201creconciliation\u201d between the two countries, which he said was essential to confronting \u201cthe Russian threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Ceremonies were also held in the southeastern Polish border town of Chelm \u2014 a key rail link to Kyiv \u2014 at the site of a planned museum to those who died at Volhynia.<\/p>\n The town\u2019s mayor, Jakub Banaszek, said the commemorations were \u201cnot directed against today\u2019s Ukraine or its citizens\u201d nor to cause division and hostility.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are an expression of remembrance for the victims of historical events,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tPoland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrives for the EU summit in Brussels, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Omar Havana)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP17074558494321-e1783788886223-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA woman stands near a mass grave and a monument in the village of Chlaniow, Poland, that holds the bodies of Poles killed in a 1944 attack on the village by the Nazi SS-led Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion, on June 19, 2013. (AP Photo\/Czarek Sokolowski)<\/p>\n
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