The European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to approve an amendment to last year’s Commission report on Ukraine to include language criticizing Zelensky’s recent glorification of the OUN-UPA. The text describes his move as an “unnecessary and provoked escalation” that shows “disregard for Polish sensitivities and grief linked to the UPA’s estimated many tens of thousands of victims and their families”. It also said that this “undermines neighborly relations” and “is not in line with European values”.
This is a positive step since it showed that Ukraine most definitely won’t join the EU with Bandera exactly as the ruling liberal coalition recently declared following the example of their rival, conservative President Karol Nawrocki, who revoked the Order of the White Eagle from Zelensky for what he did. It’s also notable that Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s “European People’s Party” was the one that proposed this amendment. This confirms that the issue has now become bipartisan and truly unifying in Poland.
That said, former conservative Prime Minister Beata Szydło shared some critiques of the amendment, which are worth paying attention to. In the words of this sitting MEP, “the UPA’s murders of Poles were not defined as genocide, and there is no condemnation of the currently widespread promotion of Banderism in Ukraine. In contrast, there are many provisions (in the overall document) facilitating Ukraine’s access to the EU market—which will harm the Polish economy.”
Despite the symbolism of this move, including that it happened just before Poland commemorates the “National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Citizens of the Polish Republic Committed by Ukrainian Nationalists” on 11 July, Zelensky and company weren’t fazed. Nawrocki candidly disclosed that his meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of last week’s NATO Summit in Ankara didn’t resolve this issue, nor did he expect it to, and he reaffirmed that it’s “non-negotiable” for him.
Lvov (known to Poles as Lwów and Ukrainians as Lviv), which is the cradle of Ukrainian nationalism, also isn’t backing away from its Regional Council’s plans to honor the UPA, its genocidal commander Roman Shukhevich, and ideologue Oleg Olzhich across the coming year. The chairman also “propose[d] to ask the regional military administration to develop a set of actions aimed at counteracting disinformation, perhaps to establish an appropriate center staffed by specialists in Polish-Ukrainian relations.”
Nowhere near as provocative but still extremely disrespectful was the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urging Poland not to revive Nawrocki’s bill from last year banning Banderism, which was rejected by the ruling liberal coalition but might now be approved by them given their policy reversal. This echoes Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Kirill Budanov’s false warning about allegedly “immature escalatory steps” by Poland ahead of 11 July in which he also falsely compared Poland with Russia in an attempt to maximally enrage Poles.
Reflecting on the context in which the European Parliament just criticized Zelensky’s glorification of the OUN-UPA, it was a positive step but also an incomplete one since their WWII-era crimes weren’t described as genocide and the overall document backs Ukraine’s access to the EU market at Poland’s expense. Zelensky and company also weren’t fazed by this development either. Therefore, the Polish-Ukrainian dispute is far from over, and observers can expect it to continue spiraling over the summer.
