Ukrainian ambassador outraged as Polish Foreign Ministry advises Zelenskyy to "apologise for Volyn"

Vasyl Zvarych, Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, has called attempts to dictate to Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy concerning how they should relate to the Volyn tragedy of 1943 "unacceptable".

Source: Zvarych on Facebook, quoted by European Pravda.

Details: Zvarych referred to an interview that Łukasz Jasina, spokesman for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave to the portal Onet, in which he said that the president of Ukraine "lacks understanding" of how important the topic of Volyn is for Poles.

According to Jasina, there is a lack of dialogue at the presidential level on the problematic relations between Ukraine and Poland.

"President Zelenskyy should accept more accountability as Ukraine… [should] apologise and ask for forgiveness, please. This formula works very well in the case of Polish-Ukrainian relations, and it is still lacking," he said.

"We Poles have accepted accountability as a Polish state for the crimes committed by our state against Ukrainians. Ukraine has not taken on enough of such accountability, although much has changed for the better," the Polish foreign ministry spokesman added.

In response, the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw said that any attempts to dictate to Ukraine’s president or to Ukraine concerning what we should do with respect to our common past are "unacceptable and unfortunate".

"We remember history, we are ready for dialogue and mutual understanding, and at the same time we call for respect and balance in statements, especially given the complex reality of the genocidal Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people," Zvarych stressed.

The diplomat also recalled the "formula for true reconciliation in Ukrainian-Polish relations": "we forgive and ask for forgiveness", which involves acknowledging mistakes on both sides.

Background: One of the most painful issues in the shared history of Poland and Ukraine remains the interpretation of the tragic events that took place in Volyn during the Second World War, when Ukrainian Insurgent Army units committed mass murders of Poles, now regarded as a genocide in Poland.

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