Poland has condemned a decision by the regional council in Lviv, western Ukraine, to dedicate 2027 to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), its commander Roman Shukhevych and the nationalist poet Oleh Olzhych, Notes from Poland reports.
In Poland the UPA is associated with the Volhynia massacres of the Second World War, in which around 100,000 Poles were killed. The Polish foreign ministry said honouring such figures ran against European values and the good relations between the two countries. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said he had moved to put the councillor behind the plan, Sviatoslav Sheremeta, on Poland's list of undesirable persons, and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz urged Kyiv to distance itself from the decision.
The dispute comes after recent steps towards reconciliation, including Ukraine allowing the exhumation of Volhynia victims.
Source: Notes from Poland
Photo: 1 Market Square, Lviv (05) by Aeou, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Lviv.
