On the 81st anniversary of the Volhynia massacres, Polish leaders unveiled plans for a national memorial and renewed demands that Ukraine unequivocally condemn the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as a state ceremony in Domostaw laid bare domestic political tensions. A delegation from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Jarosław Kaczyński, was booed and insulted by sections of the crowd, while Grzegorz Braun, head of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown, was greeted with enthusiasm. The incident, reported by Russian state media, underscored the volatile intersection of historical grievance and partisan rivalry in Poland.

Speaking in a video address, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the construction of a Wall of Memory in Warsaw, inscribed with the names of identified victims and an eternal flame. He described the killings of up to 100,000 ethnic Poles in 1943–45 as a “genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists” and framed historical truth as a precondition for Ukraine’s European Union membership. President Karol Nawrocki, in a statement read at the ceremony, pledged to ban the UPA’s red-and-black flag, which he linked to the Nazi-era “blood and soil” ideology, and insisted Warsaw would not forget the crimes. Polish officials also confirmed the resumption of exhumations of victims’ remains on Ukrainian territory, a process that had been stalled for years.

Viewed from Kyiv, the anniversary highlights a persistent diplomatic fault line. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian representatives took part in joint prayers with Polish counterparts and that Ukraine is “doing its part to honestly establish the facts.” He stressed that both nations now face a common mortal threat from Russia. Many in Ukraine regard the UPA as fighters for independence against both Nazi and Soviet forces, a narrative that clashes with Poland’s genocide designation. The rift deepened last month when Zelensky was stripped of Poland’s highest state honour after naming a military unit after the UPA. Meanwhile, the Russian government declassified and released World War II-era files on the massacres, a step that Western diplomats interpret as an attempt to exploit Polish-Ukrainian friction at a moment when military and logistical cooperation against Moscow’s invasion is critical.

The dispute carries concrete implications for Ukraine’s EU accession path. Krzysztof Bosak, deputy speaker of the Polish Sejm, has stated that Warsaw should not support Kyiv’s membership until Ukraine rejects “Bandera ideology,” guarantees the rights of the Polish minority, and adopts measures favourable to Polish industry. The Polish parliament is expected to vote in the coming weeks on legislation banning the UPA flag. While the resumption of exhumations may ease some bilateral strains, the fundamental divergence over how to characterise the wartime nationalist movement remains unresolved, leaving the dossier open as both capitals navigate the pressures of a shared security emergency and competing historical memories.