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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s embassy in Rome has written to leading Italian daily Libero rejecting the newspaper\u2019s report that \u201cWarsaw has long claimed parts of western Ukraine\u201d. It notes that such claims are part of \u201cRussian disinformation\u201d designed to create divisions between Poland and Ukraine.<\/p>\n Last Thursday, in an article on Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine,\u00a0Libero wrote that \u201cKyiv must be wary of some allies\u201d, pointing in particular to Poland.<\/p>\n It noted that the new Polish president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, has called on Ukraine<\/a> to tackle \u201chistorical issues\u201d such as the legacy of the Volhynia massacres<\/a> in World War Two, during which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians.<\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, Warsaw has long claimed parts of western Ukraine, especially the Lviv area,\u201d added the Italian newspaper.<\/p>\n Hej @MSZ_RP<\/a>, to mo\u017ce drobnostka, ale wg mnie nale\u017cy prostowa\u0107 takie rzeczy. W dzisiejszym wydaniu w\u0142oskiego dziennika “Libero” @Libero_official<\/a> napisano:<\/p>\n “Warszawa od zawsze ro\u015bci sobie pretensje do cz\u0119\u015bci zachodniej Ukrainy, szczeg\u00f3lnie do rejonu Lwowa”<\/p>\n Zareagujcie! pic.twitter.com\/vORRHZIBKt<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Piotr Leski (@LeskiPiotr) June 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Much of what is now western Ukraine was, before the war, part of Poland. That included Lviv, which was previously the Polish city of Lw\u00f3w.<\/p>\n However, as part of the postwar settlement, Poland\u2019s borders shifted westwards. Its former eastern lands became part of the Soviet Union (and are now in Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania) while Poland was given former German territories in the north and west.<\/p>\n While many Poles still have a sentimental attachment to the former eastern \u201cborderlands\u201d (kresy) \u2013 and to the million or so ethnic Poles who still live there \u2013 no government or political party of any note has sought to claim them back.<\/p>\n Map showing postwar border movements, with its former Polish lands in the east (coloured grey) going to the Soviet Union and former German lands in the west and north (coloured red) given to Poland (credit: radek.s\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n On Friday, Poland\u2019s foreign ministry announced that the embassy in Rome had \u201cintervened in the matter of an article in the Libero newspaper, which wrote that Poland lays claim to western Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe indicated that such a claim is an element of Russian disinformation,\u201d wrote the ministry.<\/p>\n Szanowni Pa\u0144stwo \u2014 Rzecznik MSZ (@RzecznikMSZ) June 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Russian-linked propaganda has often sought to spread the idea that Poland wants to reclaim its former lands from Ukraine, and that it may take advantage of the current war to do so.<\/p>\n In 2022, for example, a fake letter<\/a> \u2013 made to look like it was sent by the Polish embassy in Kyiv \u2013 was circulated on social media claiming that Poland was surveying Ukrainians to find out if they want to become part of Poland<\/p>\n In 2023, Vladimir Putin himself claimed<\/a> that Poland is \u201chatching revanchist plans\u201d to \u201cdeploy troops in the western territories of Ukraine\u201d, where they would \u201cremain forever\u201d. He also said that, in the past, Poland had \u201csuppressed national cultures and Orthodox [Christianity]\u201d in those territories.<\/p>\n Poles must be “reminded” their western territories were a “gift from Stalin”, said Putin today<\/p>\n He also repeated unsubstantiated claims that Poland is planning to take territory from Ukraine and warned Russia would respond to any aggression against Belarus https:\/\/t.co\/DIRMhB1Kme<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Notes from Poland \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 (@notesfrompoland) July 21, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n On Friday last week, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) obtained a copy of the letter written to Libero\u2019s editor-in-chief, Mario Sechi, by the head of Poland\u2019s embassy in Rome, Ryszard Schnepf.<\/p>\n The diplomat said that the newspaper\u2019s claim had caused \u201cshock and exasperation\u201d in Poland, which \u201cclearly supports a sovereign Ukraine within its internationally recognised \u2013 i.e. pre-2014 \u2013 borders\u201d.<\/p>\n Warsaw, both under the current and former government, has been one of Ukraine\u2019s closest allies, providing extensive military, humanitarian and diplomatic support.<\/p>\n \u201cA sentimental attitude towards the areas where Poles lived before World War Two and where they conducted economic, cultural and educational activities does not mean that these lands are expected to be incorporated into Poland,\u201d added Schnepf.<\/p>\n Ambasada\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 w Rzymie interweniowa\u0142a w zwi\u0105zku ze s\u0142owami zawartymi w artykule opublikowanym na \u0142amach w\u0142oskiego dziennika \u201cLibero\u201d. \u2014 Ambasciata di Polonia a Roma (@PLinItalia) June 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Main image credit: Nico Benedickt<\/a>\/Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of\u00a0Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including\u00a0Foreign Policy,\u00a0POLITICO Europe,\u00a0EUobserver\u00a0and\u00a0Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\n
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Informuje, \u017ce plac\u00f3wka w Rzymie interweniowa\u0142a ws. artyku\u0142u w pi\u015bmie “Libero”, kt\u00f3re napisa\u0142o, \u017ce Polska ro\u015bci sobie pretensje do zachodniej Ukrainy. Wskazali\u015bmy, \u017ce takie twierdzenie to element rosyjskiej dezinformacji.<\/p>\n\n
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Ambasador Ryszard Schnepf wys\u0142a\u0142 do redaktora naczelnego dziennika list, w kt\u00f3rym wyrazi\u0142 protest, zdumienie i rozgoryczeniehttps:\/\/t.co\/yxixHvzMA4<\/a><\/p>\n
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6s83J95K_400x400.jpg\")
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