Ukraine called on Wednesday for dialogue and closer ties with Poland as tensions flared over the government’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a nationalist force responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Poles during World War II, Anadolu reports.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the unit’s name was chosen by soldiers who “never had little anti-Polish intentions”.

“Their purpose was to honor those who, many years ago, also fought against imperial Moscow, Bolshevik-Communist occupation and repression,” he wrote on the American social media platform X.

Sybiha asked both sides to “lower the level of emotions”, leave issues of shared history to professional historians and focus on “their common enemy” as and strengthening European security.

“Escalation of tensions between Ukraine and Poland does not benefit either Ukrainians or Poles,” he said.

Sybiha noted that the two countries had spent nearly two years rebuilding dialogue, including resuming exhumations and reburials of war victims and resuming a congress of historians to address contentious historical issues through archival research and debate. He also thanked Poland for its “leading role” in supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia, expressing the desire to discuss all issues, “including the most difficult ones”, in the spirit of mutual understanding and openness.

On May 26, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a decree awarding a special operations unit the honorary title of “Heroes of UPA,” describing the decision as part of efforts to restore the historic traditions of Ukraine’s national military forces.

The move immediately sparked outrage across Poland’s political spectrum.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced plans to seek the revocation of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state award, given to Zelenskyy after Russia’s war in 2022.

Source: prizrenpost