For Poles, the UPA Carries a Very Specific Meaning, and That's Hard to Change | Edwin Bendyk
- Суспільство
- 78 хвилин
- 1 липня 2026
At the end of June, the Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Gdańsk, Poland. Participants signed 160agreements worth more than €10 billion, while the European Union disbursed the first tranche of its €90 billion loan package for Ukraine—more than €3 billion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not attend the conference due to a new escalation in tensions between Ukraine and Poland. After a Special Operations Forces unit was given the honorary title "named after the Heroes of the UPA," Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle. Zelenskyy reportedlyreturned the award to Warsaw via Nova Poshta and declined to travel to Gdańsk. Ukraine was represented at the conference by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.
The conference itself, along with its relatively successful outcomes, could have created an opportunity to easetensions between Poland and Ukraine. Yet such expectations seem unrealistic in the near future. President Zelenskyy has already submitted a bill on a national pantheon to the Ukrainian parliament, a move that could once again stir strongemotions in Warsaw.
Journalist Natalia Gumenyuk speaks with Polish journalist and public intellectual Edwin Bendyk about the atmosphere in Gdańsk, the differing perceptions of the UPA in Poland andUkraine, anti-Ukrainian sentiment as one of the foundations of Polish communism, Polish fears of a potential Russian attack, the growing support for the so-called "parties of peace", the political future of Ukrainians living in Poland, and why the difficult dialogue between the two countries mayultimately offer a path toward mutual understanding.
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