Dispute over nationalists: New dispute between Ukraine and Poland over underground army

Poland classifies the crimes as genocide and celebrates July 11th as a day of remembrance (“Bloody Sunday”), while in Ukraine the UPA is seen in some places as part of the fight for an independent Ukraine. Under the name Lemberg, Lviv belonged to the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary until the First World War and later to Poland. Due to the territorial shift after the Second World War, the USSR occupied the east of Poland and with it Lwów.

While the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was still trying to influence the Lviv regional parliament, a strong reaction immediately came from Poland: "The decision of the Lviv Regional Council to declare the year 2027 the year of the UPA and Shukhevich is unacceptable. It does not contribute to building mutual trust between peoples, but on the contrary deepens the division," wrote Polish Defense Minister Władysław Marcin Kosiniak-Kamysz.

There was already a violent scandal between Ukraine and Poland in June. Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of Poland's highest order, the “White Eagle”. In May, Zelensky gave a Ukrainian military unit the name “Heroes of the UPA”. After Nawrocki's harsh reaction, Zelensky ostentatiously sent the medal back by post. Former Ukrainian presidents and chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov also returned their Polish medals.