WARSAW – Poland’s president-elect Karol Nawrocki urged Ukraine to take Polish historical grievances more seriously in his first official call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, marking a clear shift in Warsaw’s tone toward Kyiv ahead of his swearing-in on 6 August.
Nawrocki, backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, won the 1 June election after pledging to adopt a firmer stance on Ukraine’s EU and NATO ambitions and to push for progress on unresolved historical disputes. Chief among these is the Volhynia massacre during World War II, when thousands of Poles were killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
“Karol Nawrocki stressed that he represents the voice of the Nation, which demands a change in Ukraine’s approach to important and still unresolved historical issues. This needs to change,” Nawrocki ‘s spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz wrote on X.
While Nawrocki shares political roots with outgoing President Andrzej Duda, his tone contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor, who remained one of Zelenskyy’s closest allies after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
In November 2024, Polish and Ukrainian foreign ministers hailed progress on the historical dispute and said they were working toward the exhumation of victims. A year earlier, Duda and Zelenskyy jointly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the massacre.
Despite the harder line, Nawrocki reaffirmed Poland’s support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression.
“Russia is a neo-imperial and colonial state, ruled by a war criminal, Vladimir Putin. Therefore, Ukraine, which is fighting against the Kremlin regime, can count on Poland’s support,” said Leśkiewicz.
(de)