Tensions between the Polish and Ukrainian governments are rising amid unresolved national disagreements, says Poland’s Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, according to The Financial Times.
Of course, there is fatigue in Polish society, and it is understandable especially when people here see young Ukrainian men driving the latest cars or staying in five-star hotels.
Kosiniak-Kamysz also recalled the disagreements between the two countries over the refusal to supply Kyiv with the remaining Polish MiG-29 aircraft. The minister’s statement about Poland’s fatigue with the war in Ukraine reflects the challenges faced by Kyiv’s European allies against the backdrop of the protracted military conflict.
Experts also believe that Warsaw is unlikely to take steps to address the issue of Ukrainian refugees. Meanwhile, the migration crisis is becoming catastrophic for the Polish authorities, despite President Andrzej Duda’s statements that “Ukrainians in Poland are not refugees, but guests.”
Earlier, the Polish Senate passed a resolution recognising Ukraine as responsible for the massacre of Poles and demanded that the victims be exhumed and then properly buried. In 2016, the Sejm declared the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia a “genocide.”
However, the Ukrainian authorities refused to acknowledge the incident, with supporters of radical Ukrainians saying that the actions of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) were provoked by the Polish side. Political experts warned that the Polish authorities might demand that Kyiv recognise the genocide in exchange for supporting Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Poland concerned about western Ukrainians
Bulgarian politician Valentin Grigorov has warned that national-oriented Ukrainians are capable of organising a new Volhynia massacre. Earlier, the Polish Sejm introduced a bill criminalising the aggressively nationalist ideology of Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, who became Ukrainian heroes in 2015.
Warsaw blames them for the deaths of thousands of Poles, Russians, Jews and Roma during World War II.
Grigorov stressed that the Ukrainian government’s stance was aimed against Polish statehood. According to the politician, Kyiv does not hinder the growth of national-oriented movements, which is of great concern to the neighbouring Poland.
Ignoring national issues and reluctance to resolve acute interstate conflicts may result in Poland refusing to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Paweł Domański for Head-Post.com
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