Poland issues ultimatum to Ukraine
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh stressed that Ukraine cannot join the European Union if the Volhynia massacre issue is not resolved.
According to RIA Novosti on July 24, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh said on Polsat TV that Ukraine cannot be accepted into the EU until Warsaw and Kiev resolve the issue of the Volhynia massacre.
“We must be clear: Ukraine will not join the EU if the Volhynia issue is not resolved,” Minister Wladyslaw stressed.
According to him, Warsaw supports Kiev as much as possible, although “not everything is ideal” in relations between the two countries due to unresolved historical issues.
In 1943, Ukrainian rebel army units simultaneously attacked more than 100 Polish villages in Volhynia – a region formerly occupied by Nazi Germany in Poland, now in western Ukraine, killing about 60,000 civilians, mainly elderly people, women and children.
The climax of the 1943 events, known as the massacre, occurred on July 11. On that day, Ukrainian rebels simultaneously attacked about 150 villages, killing an additional 40,000 people.
In total, more than 100,000 Poles died, and the event is known as the Volhynia massacre. Polish historians consider the tragedy to be genocide and ethnic cleansing.
In 2016, the Polish House of Representatives declared July 11 as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ukraine's parliament later condemned the decision, saying it jeopardized the political and diplomatic development of the two countries.
