"Political fringe elements are waging war on graves": Ukraine urges Poland to restore damaged UPA monument

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has commented on an incident in Poland in which Grzegorz Braun, leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown party, damaged a monument to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in the village of Białystok in Poland. The Foreign Ministry has called on the Polish authorities to conduct a proper legal assessment of his actions and restore the grave.

Source: European Pravda

Quote from Ukraine's Foreign Ministry: "Political fringe elements in Poland can think of nothing better to do than wage war on graves... at a time when a real war is going on that poses an existential threat to both Ukraine and Poland. This is shameful and immoral behaviour that can evoke nothing but shame and condemnation in any normal person."

Details: The ministry said that Ukraine expects the competent Polish authorities to conduct a proper legal assessment of these actions, restore the damaged grave and other Ukrainian memorial sites in Poland, and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

Screenshot: Braun on X (Twitter)

Quote: "Ukraine consistently supports the same principle on both sides of the border: Ukrainian memorial sites in Poland and Polish memorial sites in Ukraine must be protected. No one has the right to turn memory and respect for the dead into a circus performance for their own political purposes."

Background:

• On 10 September, Braun posted a video of himself damaging the UPA monument in the village of Białystok in Hrubieszów County, Lublin Voivodeship.
• The granite obelisk commemorates Ukrainians who were killed fighting the Soviet NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs). It stands in the village of Białystok, in the Dołhobyczów municipality (Hrubieszów County), where the Ukrainians were buried in 1946.
• The obelisk has been vandalised several times. In the summer of 2026, it was spray-painted and an arch decorating the stone was cut away. The Ukrainian Embassy condemned the act of vandalism at the time.
• On 7 September, the monument was damaged again by unknown individuals.

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