WARSAW (Reuters) – The Polish prime minister emphasized the need for reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine during a commemoration ceremony in Warsaw on Tuesday. He stated that true reconciliation cannot be achieved until all Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War Two are found and given proper burials. This issue has been a source of strain between the two nations for generations and is crucial for their future relations.
Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, Poland has become a staunch ally of Ukraine. However, the wounds caused by the Volhynia killings, which occurred from 1943 to 1945, have not fully healed. Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, described the killings as genocide during the ceremony. He stressed that the remains of all victims must be located and honored for there to be a complete reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine.
The Polish government estimates that over 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists during the massacres, while thousands of Ukrainians also died in retaliation. The massacres took place in a region inhabited by both Poles and Ukrainians that was part of Poland before World War Two and then occupied by the Soviet Union.
In 2013, the Polish parliament officially recognized the Volhynia massacres as “ethnic cleansing bearing the hallmarks of genocide” carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War Two. However, Ukraine has not accepted this assertion and considers them as part of a conflict between the two nations. The differing views on the events have contributed to the strained relationship between Poland and Ukraine.
Poland is requesting unlimited access for its specialists to search for and excavate the remains of the victims, allowing them to receive proper funerals. However, in 2017, Ukraine banned Polish authorities from search activities on its territory. Only in 2022, Kyiv granted permission for Poland to search for victims in one village. These challenges have further complicated the efforts for reconciliation.
Despite these challenges, there have been recent attempts to address the issue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Polish President Andrzej Duda attended a joint church service in Lutsk, Ukraine, on Sunday to honor the victims together. Furthermore, Ukraine’s parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, who attended the commemoration ceremony in Warsaw, expressed his understanding of Poland’s pain and sought to defuse tensions between the two nations.
As the search for reconciliation continues, both Poland and Ukraine hope that addressing the painful legacy of the Volhynia massacres will pave the way for a stronger and more harmonious relationship. The search for the remains of the victims remains a significant step towards achieving this goal.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Alan Charlish; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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