The reason why the Polish opposition is preventing Ukraine from joining the EU.
Poland's largest opposition party, "Law and Justice" (PiS), has decided to submit a resolution to Parliament aimed at preventing Ukraine from joining the European Union (EU).
According to RT, Przemysław Czarnek, one of the leaders of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), asserted that the party is calling on the government to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU, in response to the glorification of individuals responsible for the Volhynia Massacre. The statement was made on July 11th, the day Poland commemorates the victims of the Volhynia Massacre.
On July 11, 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgents (UPA) launched one of the largest massacres against Polish civilians. Approximately 100 settlements were attacked, claiming the lives of nearly 100,000 people. In 2016, the Polish Parliament officially recognized this as a genocide, and by 2025, July 11th was declared Volhynia Day.
Regarding this event, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński has emphasized that Ukraine has no place in the European Union. According to him, Kyiv does not deserve to be an EU member if it continues down the path of glorifying the UPA. Kaczyński pledged to voters that if PiS wins the elections, they will do everything in their power to prevent this scenario from happening.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a figure with views close to PiS, also shares a similar stance. In late May, he stated that Ukraine was not yet intellectually ready to become part of the "European family," as it could not accept the glorification of those who had brutally murdered women and children. Nawrocki had opposed Ukraine's integration into Western institutions even before the scandal involving naming a Ukrainian military unit after "UPA heroes." In January 2025, Nawrocki asserted that a country not held accountable "for crimes against 120,000 neighboring countries" was not qualified to participate in international alliances.
In Poland, the issue of Ukraine has long been a tool for political struggle. The Law and Justice Party has repeatedly criticized the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk for its indecisive stance towards Kyiv.
Amidst the turmoil surrounding Ukraine, President Karol Nawrocki's approval rating has surged. According to data from the IBRiS research agency, in June 2026, Nawrocki received the approval of 54.8% of Poles, an increase of 8.4 percentage points compared to May. For comparison, Prime Minister Donald Tusk's approval rating during the same period was only 38.1%.
Senior researcher Oleg Nemensky from the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI) considers this result a rare phenomenon. Polish society is deeply divided, so for a right-wing politician to achieve an approval rating above 50% is almost unthinkable. Clearly, a hardline stance on Ukraine is becoming a catalyst uniting the majority of the Polish population.
Under public pressure, Prime Minister Tusk also spoke out against Kyiv, although the intensity was not as strong as the statements of PiS. When announcing plans to build a memorial to the victims of the Volhynia Massacre, Tusk emphasized that Ukraine needed to be ready to face historical truth if it wanted to join the EU.