Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has taken a necessary step toward historical clarity by announcing a national memorial for the victims of the Volhynia massacre. Between 1943 and 1945, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out a brutal campaign that claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 ethnic Poles.
Tusk correctly identified that the path to a better future must be paved with the truth, rather than the erasure of past atrocities. This move comes amid ongoing tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, as Ukraine continues to venerate the UPA as independence fighters—a narrative that ignores their role in the systematic slaughter of civilians.
The diplomatic rift recently deepened when Poland stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of a top state honor after he named a military unit after the UPA.
While Poland remains committed to supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression, Tusk has made it clear that historical revisionism will not be tolerated, explicitly suggesting that Ukraine must embrace the truth of these events if it hopes to integrate further into the European Union.
By prioritizing the memory of the victims, Poland is asserting that national sovereignty and historical integrity are not negotiable, even in the face of modern geopolitical alliances.
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