Only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukraine and Poland, Foreign Ministry says on scandal over SOF unit named after Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to outrage from senior Polish officials over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to grant one of the units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "named after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army."
Censor.NET reports this, citing European Pravda. The position was voiced by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi.
Ukraine’s response
The representative of the diplomatic agency expressed regret that the incident had sparked a scandal that runs counter to the overall positive trend toward the normalization of Ukrainian-Polish relations observed over the past year and a half.
During this period, Kyiv and Warsaw have made significant progress in historical dialogue, including resuming the search for and exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy and restoring the work of the Congress of Historians.
"The discussion about the past must be professional and based on reliable sources. Our history confirms that only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukrainians and Poles," Tykhyi stressed.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson separately noted that the Ukrainian special operations troops who initiated the granting of this honorary title "certainly did not intend to offend the friendly Polish people."
"For them, the struggle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army symbolizes solely resistance to Moscow’s imperial policy, and is in no way directed against Poles," he noted.
Tykhyi recalled that Ukrainian-Polish history includes both shared glorious victories over the common enemy in Moscow (from the Battle of Orsha to the Miracle on the Vistula) and tragic pages of World War II, including crimes against civilians on both sides.
However, Ukraine does not avoid difficult topics, cooperates constructively on exhumations, and seeks dialogue without excessive politicization.
"We cannot allow quarrels over the past to undermine our resistance to the common enemy now, when Ukraine, with Poland’s support, is holding back Russian aggression. We are grateful to Poland and the Polish people, who have supported Ukraine from the first minutes of this unprovoked and criminal war," the Foreign Ministry spokesperson concluded.
Background
- Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy granted the Separate Special Operations Center North of the Special Operations Forces the honorary title "named after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army."
- Later, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he would demand that Zelenskyy be stripped of Poland’s highest award over the decision.
