Poland investigates desecration of UPA monument by controversial politician, but no charges filed

Polish prosecutors are investigating the desecration of a monument and burial site for Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) fighters who were killed in a battle with the NKVD (the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) in 1946 in the village of Białystok in Hrubieszów County, but no charges have been filed against anyone.

Source: Polish news portal RMF24, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Hrubieszów District Prosecutor's Office is investigating the vandalism of a monument and burial site of 41 UPA fighters in the village of Białystok.

MEP Grzegorz Braun posted a video showing him and other people striking the stone obelisk with a heavy tool.

The preliminary proceedings concern "insulting a group of Ukrainian ethnicity by damaging the resting place of people who died in battle with NKVD officers" in the village of Białystok in the Dołhobyczów municipality.

Prosecutor Rafał Kawalec, spokesperson for the Zamość District Prosecutor's Office, said investigators have seized the video recording of the incident and questioned witnesses.

The spokesperson added that no one has been charged. He did not rule out that proceedings could be launched to have parliamentary immunity waived if necessary.

The granite obelisk commemorates Ukrainians who were killed fighting against the Soviet NKVD. It stands in the village of Białystok, in the Dołhobyczów municipality (Hrubieszów County), where the Ukrainians were buried in 1946. The monument was erected directly above a mass grave.

The memorial site has existed since the 1990s and has been in its current form – a stone bearing the engraved names of those killed – since 2019. 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 officially condemned the act of vandalism at the time.

The Lublin Voivodeship Office has explained that the grave of UPA members located in the Dołhobyczów municipality is not listed in the register of war graves and cemeteries maintained by the voivode.

Background:

• Commenting on the latest incident, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "Political fringe figures in Poland can think of nothing better to do than wage war on graves at a time when a real war is going on."
• The monument was also vandalised on 6 September, and police are searching for those involved.

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