The Polish line: will the Volyn tragedy become an obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the EU?
On its way to the EU, Ukraine is going through the most difficult stage – negotiations.
By applying for membership, our country has broken the EU matrix, significantly accelerating the process of European integration. Now we are at the most ‘technical’, but also the most meaningful stage of progress towards the desired membership.
Ukraine and the EU are negotiating until all negotiating clusters are closed, and here we have already started to face the demands of the current EU members. Hypothetically, each EU member state could demand certain changes from Ukraine. Meanwhile, Poland has been the most active in this process, for which both current issues, such as restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, and historical issues, such as those related to the historical memory of the Poles, are extremely important.
In August 2024, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “Ukraine will have to meet Polish expectations one way or another. It will not be an EU member without the consent of Poland”.
‘Without commemorating the victims of Volyn, Ukraine will not join the EU’
These words of Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, spoken on Polish radio in late August, caused a great deal of resonance in political circles.
Reacting to this statement, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper conducted a poll among Poles, which showed that 52% of them made Ukraine’s accession to the EU dependent on the resolution of the issue of exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy.
While Poland remains one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, providing billions of dollars in military, economic and humanitarian aid and hosting millions of Ukrainian refugees, there are long-standing disputes between the two countries that have yet to be resolved. First and foremost, we are talking about the Volyn massacre, an issue that has remained a sticking point in the Ukrainian-Polish dialogue since the 1990s. The tensions in relations were also evidenced by a recent meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. During the meeting, Sikorski insisted that Ukraine finally allow the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre and warned against excessive expectations of rapid EU accession. This frustrated Zelenskyy, who expressed his grievances with Poland, accusing it of politicising historical events, delaying promised military aid, and incomplete support for Ukraine’s European integration path.
Historical context of the Volyn tragedy
The Volyn Massacre (1943-1944) was a massacre of Polish civilians in Volyn and Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). In traditional Polish historiography, the Volyn Massacre is often perceived as a deliberate ethnic cleansing of the Polish population by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in order to eliminate the Polish presence in Volyn and create a homogeneous Ukrainian territory. Polish historians focus on the mass extermination of Polish civilians during the conflict that engulfed Volyn and some other regions of western Ukraine in 1943-1944, and consider these events to be genocide against the Polish population.
Instead, in Ukrainian historiography, these events are often interpreted as a response to previous Polish repressions and oppression of the Ukrainian population in the interwar period, as well as defensive actions during the chaotic war in western Ukraine. In the Ukrainian view, the conflict is part of the broader context of the struggle for Ukrainian independence, in which the UPA acted against all forces that threatened Ukrainian statehood, including the Polish underground and administration.
These two interpretations of events create significant tensions in relations between Ukraine and Poland, as each country emphasises its own victims and approaches to understanding the historical truth.
For many Poles, this is one of the greatest tragedies in their twentieth-century history. In the Polish press, we can read about the particular cruelty with which Ukrainians tortured and killed Poles with pitchforks and axes, after having mocked the victims. According to Polish historians, the number of people killed during the Volyn massacre is 100,000. The Ukrainian side, in turn, points out that there were mutual violent acts in those years and insists on the need to analyse the entire history of relations in the context of the struggle for independence. The number of victims, according to Ukrainian historians, is much lower.
The issue of exhumation of the remains of the victims of the Volyn tragedy is one of the most complex and sensitive topics in Polish-Ukrainian relations. For Poland, exhumation has great symbolic significance. The Polish side believes it is important to establish the exact number of victims and to bury them properly, giving relatives the opportunity to restore the memory of the dead. For the Poles, this is part of a broader process of searching for the historical truth about the events of World War II in western Ukraine. In Ukraine, however, there is concern that the exhumation could be used for political purposes and could cause a new wave of tension in bilateral relations. As the Volyn tragedy is a complex historical event, it is important for the Ukrainian side that this process does not become an instrument of political pressure or manipulation of historical facts.
Reasons for the exhumation moratorium
In 2017, Ukraine imposed a moratorium on the exhumation of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy. This was a response to the destruction of Ukrainian monuments in Poland and the actions of Polish nationalist organisations. As a reminder, in April 2017, Polish right-wing radical groups dismantled a memorial monument to soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the village of Gruszowice. The Association of Ukrainians in Poland called the destruction of the memorial a planned provocation aimed at creating tension between Ukrainians and Poles on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Vistula operation, which had tragic consequences for the Ukrainian population. Its commemoration was supposed to be an important moment for discussing historical memories and reconciliation.
Since then, negotiations have continued between the countries to resume exhumations, but the process has been delayed due to a lack of consensus on approaches to resolving this issue.
In the winter of 2020, another scandalous event took place that negatively affected Ukrainian-Polish relations. The mass grave of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers on Mount Monastyr was vandalised. It was a monument – a cross and an information table with the names of the victims – erected with the approval and funding of the Polish authorities. Unknown persons destroyed a part of the monument, which caused a wide response in Ukraine and Poland. The act of vandalism sparked new discussions about historical memory and relations between the two countries, highlighting the importance of preserving monuments and places of remembrance.
UINP: a decision ‘by way of exception’
Recently, there has been a positive dynamic between Ukraine and Poland in resolving the issue of exhumation of the remains of victims of the Volyn tragedy. The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR) has announced its intention to begin work on the search for and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims in the Rivne region in 2025. The communiqué notes that ‘for a long time, there have been no official, inter-institutional mechanisms for resolving problematic issues with the Polish side regarding the restoration and consolidation of memorial sites,’ so the UINP ‘is inclined to make decisions to meet the interests’ of Polish citizens as an exception.
“This is positive news and an important step in the right direction. Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has repeatedly emphasised in his talks with Ukrainian partners that Poland expects not only plans, but real solutions. We hope that such a decision will indeed be made,” said Pawel Wronski, spokesman for the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Anton Drobowicz, head of the UINP, explained this initiative as the result of the activity of Polish citizens who, without relying on their country’s state institutions, began a direct dialogue with Ukrainian structures responsible for historical issues. At the same time, he calls the situation with the grave on Monastyr Hill absurd, where vandals are still knocking out pieces with letters of names with sledgehammers and installing their own grave markers. This is a legal grave that was installed by the Poles at their own expense. It is surprising that no countermeasures have been put in place to counteract the vandalism.
So, indeed, a paradoxical situation arises when the Polish side demands that Ukraine understand the needs of historical memory, but is not ready to take appropriate steps to meet it.
Actions should be mirrored.
Will the unresolved issues of historical memory hinder Ukraine’s accession to the EU?
By linking the issue of Ukraine’s European integration to the Volyn tragedy, Polish officials emphasise the importance of historical contexts in modern political relations. Given that Poland will hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2025, this could have a significant impact on Ukraine’s integration into European structures.
In this context, Anton Drobovych does not see any problems in meeting the demands of the Polish side. If it intends to raise the issue of fulfilling its obligations under international agreements in accordance with the principles and values of the European Union, Ukraine is ready for a constructive dialogue. It is important that Poland clearly formulates its questions and demands, which will allow both sides to work on solving the existing problems.
Ukraine has high expectations for Poland’s EU presidency, which will begin on 1 January 2025. Will they come true?
