The current Polish government should not have started a scandal with Ukraine over the Ukrainian President’s decree awarding an honorary name in honor of the Heroes of the UPA to one of the units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
If we look back at history, Ukrainians also have grounds to hold a grudge against the Poles. Therefore, today it is probably not worth dredging up the past and blaming the UPA alone for all the Poles’ troubles and misfortunes.
In their time, the Presidents of Ukraine and Poland had already put an end to this chapter of history, and there is no need to dredge up the past again. Today, we all need to think about how to stop Russia, not fan the flames of a fire that has long since gone out.
For the fifth year now, Ukraine has been waging a brutal and bloody war for its independence and freedom against the Russian aggressor, and we ourselves will decide how to honor our heroes, without condescending instructions from any side.
Perhaps someone in Poland wants to score cheap political points by exploiting painful issues from the past. This is hardly timely today, since the Russian-Ukrainian war is not yet over, and it is difficult to predict how events will unfold. Therefore, today’s Polish politicians would do well to focus on the present and, in the interests of Poland’s security, build more alliances rather than turning Ukrainians into enemies by accusing them of things to which the current generations of Poles and Ukrainians bear no responsibility.
Oleh Bereziuk
Institute for Global Politics
