Poland issues ultimatum to Ukraine.

According to RIA Novosti on July 24, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh stated on Polsat TV that Ukraine cannot be accepted into the EU until Warsaw and Kyiv resolve the issue of the Volhynia massacre.

Minister Wladyslaw emphasized: "We must be clear: Ukraine will not join the EU unless the Volhynia issue is resolved."

According to him, Warsaw supports Kyiv to the best of its ability, although "not everything is ideal" in the relationship between the two countries due to unresolved historical issues.

In 1943, Ukrainian rebel army units launched a coordinated attack on more than 100 Polish villages in Volhynia – a former Polish territory occupied by Nazi Germany, now in western Ukraine – killing approximately 60,000 civilians, mostly the elderly, women, and children.

The climax of the 1943 events, known as the massacre, occurred on July 11th. On that day, Ukrainian rebels simultaneously attacked approximately 150 villages, killing another 40,000 people.

In total, more than 100,000 Poles were killed, and the event is collectively known as the Volhynia Massacre. Polish historians consider this tragedy to be genocide and ethnic cleansing.

In 2016, the Polish Parliament declared July 11th as the annual Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust. The Ukrainian Parliament subsequently condemned this decision, arguing that it jeopardized the political and diplomatic development of both countries.