Let us not let Kremlin compose a script for Poland and Ukraine
The increasing conflict around Polish-Ukrainian relations is increasingly becoming an component of interior political gameplay in Poland. And it is hard not to announcement that all this is happening to the delight of the Kremlin.
Poland has all right to request historical truth. He has the right to talk about Volyn, about the victims, about UPA, about OUN-B, about Bander, about Shuchewycz, about the exhumations and about the memory that must not be swept under the carpet. No 1 honest should question that.
But what's different is defending the memory of the murdered, and what's different is utilizing that memory as a baton for government and Tusk,
What have Polish governments done so far about historical politics about Volyn?
The process of commemorating UPA, Stepan Bandera or Roman Szuchewycz in Ukraine did not happen 1 day. He ran through waves: after regaining independency in 1991, from 2014 to 2015, during the decommunisation period, and after the full-scale attack of Russia in 2022, erstwhile derusification became part of the conflict for its own identity for the Ukrainians.
For Poles, the names of streets, monuments or military units referring to UPA were painful and unacceptable without clear designation of the fact about genocide in Volyn and east Małopolska.
And that's why we gotta ask: what have successive Polish governments been doing about historical policy towards Ukraine all these years? Why has a consistent state strategy been missing so long? Why was Volyn’s subject likely to detonate erstwhile it was politically profitable for someone, alternatively of being led calmly, hard and consistently by diplomacy, historians, IPNs, the Church and institutions of the state?
Ukraine ceases to be a partner in this approach in the deadly fight against Russia and becomes a convenient tool for the national campaign.
It's very dangerous. For years Russia has dreamed of 1 thing: to break Poles with Ukrainians, to break trust between Warsaw and Kiev, to turn a hard past into political weapons and to convince any Poles that the real problem is not Putin, but Ukraine.
I do not justify the Ukrainian authorities. Giving the military unit a name referring to UPA was a fatal political and moral mistake, it is simply a scandal. Volodymyr Zelenski should have reacted immediately, understood the Polish sensitivity and agreed with the Polish government how to get out of this crisis without destroying the alliance that is needed by both nations.
But the president of Poland should not usage this mistake to simultaneously attack Ukrainians and pro-Ukrainian Poles associated with the Tusk government. This is not a state responsibility.
This is simply a political emotion game that can bring real harm to Poland, Ukraine and the full region.
Because this isn't just about intergovernmental relations. It's about social emotion. That pro-Russian propaganda fuels hatred between our peoples. The fact that the memory of Polish victims can be cynically utilized not to lead to fact and reconciliation, but to break the most crucial safety alliance on the east flank of Europe.
So we gotta ask the most crucial question: what is the Polish state ration today?
Is the Polish state's ration that Russia should not occupy Ukraine? Or is the Polish state reason to be specified an escalation of historical policy, which will weaken Ukraine and cheer Moscow during the war?
The answer is apparent to me. Free Ukraine is the safety of Poland. It's not sentimental. It's not romantic. This is the hardest geopolitical realism. If Ukraine falls, Russia will be much closer to our borders and Poland will pay the price for it for generations.
I've lived in russian captivity for decades, due to the fact that that's what PRL was. That's why I know what the Russian Empire is. I know what Moscow's lie is. I know what surviving in the shadow of the Kremlin is. And that is why I believe that present everything must be subject to 1 goal: Russia cannot win this war.
But that doesn't mean we should forget Volyn. Doesn't mean we're not expected to talk about UPA. Doesn't mean we're expected to pretend nothing happened.
On the contrary. After the war, Poland must make a firm case for historical truth. There can be no consent for full reconciliation without exhumation, without a worthy burial of the victims, without clear condemnation of genocide, without designation of the criminal nature of UPA actions towards the Polish population.
There can be no Polish consent to membership of Ukraine in the European Union or NATO without a lasting mechanics of truth, memory and responsibility.
Only today, during the war, we must separate between a wise historical policy and political sabotage. Memory of murdered Poles cannot be held hostage by organization strategy. Volyn requires truth, dignity and seriousness, not cynical political theatre.
Zelenski made a mistake. Nawrocki utilized that mistake. And the biggest winner of this dispute is Russia.
Poland and Ukraine lost on this. The Kremlin can open champagne.
