Poland's defense minister marks 83rd anniversary of Volhynia massacre in Ukraine, amid renewed tensions over UPA legacy
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz attended ceremonies in Olyka on 11 July to commemorate the Polish victims of the 1943 Volhynia massacres, as recent Ukrainian decisions on UPA honours strain bilateral relations.
Vice premier and defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz visited the Ukrainian town of Olyka on the 83rd anniversary of the Volhynia massacre, the bloodiest episode of the mass killing of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II. Speaking at the commemoration of the so-called 'Bloody Sunday' of 11 July 1943, he said: 'I come to Volhynia as a representative of the Polish state and government. I come to jointly pay tribute, honour, and bear witness to the memory of those who gave their blood in martyrdom.' He added that Poles must show they will never forget their countrymen.
Historians estimate that coordinated attacks by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on around 150 Polish villages in Volhynia on 11 July 1943 marked the peak of the slaughter, and that from February 1943 to spring 1945 more than 100,000 Poles were killed in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. The memorial took place against a backdrop of renewed Polish-Ukrainian tension. In late May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy granted a Ukrainian military unit the name 'Heroes of the UPA', a move criticised in Poland, including by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
