Polish Deputy Minister Szeptycki compared UPA to Polish resistance fighters: calls are being made for Nawrocki to be sacked
Andrzej Szeptycki, the Deputy Minister of Science of Poland—who is of Ukrainian descent—has sparked a new scandal in Warsaw by comparing fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army to Polish anti-communist underground fighters.
This is reported by the publications RMF24 and Onet, according to Censor.NET.
Statement by a government official
Andrzej Szeptycki is the great-grandson of Metropolitan Andrzej Szeptycki's brother. In an interview with TOK FM, he stated that the UPA "was a formation that—regardless of what you say about the Volhynia massacre—fought for Ukraine’s independence, waged war within the framework of the Ukrainian historical narrative primarily against Soviet rule, and it was, in fact, a hopeless struggle."
"They were, with all the positive and negative connotations of the word, a unique breed of indomitable Ukrainian soldiers," says Szeptycki.
In Polish historiography, the term "unbreakable soldiers" refers to Polish anti-Soviet underground fighters.
Warsaw has criticized Szeptycki's statement
In response to this statement, Katarzyna Pelczyńska-Nalench, leader of the Polska 2050 party to which Szeptycki belongs, called the deputy minister’s statement "extremely ill-advised" and promised to speak with him about his remarks. At the same time, she assured that Szeptycki would remain in the government: "He is a very good official. He works tirelessly to ensure that Polish science has strong international ties."
For his part, Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau at the Office of the President of Poland, criticized the comparison, calling UPA soldiers "bandits and murderers." He called for Andrzej Szeptycki to be removed from the government.
"What is this person still doing in the Polish government after making such a statement? The very next day, he should have either resigned out of shame or been fired," Przydacz is convinced.
The scandal involving the unit named after the Heroes of the UPA
- Tensions in Ukrainian-Polish relations flared up after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on May 26 conferring the honorary title "Named After the Heroes of the UPA" on the "North" Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The text of the document stated that the decision was made with the aim of "restoring the historical traditions of the national army."
- Lech Wałęsa, former president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, demonstratively removed the Ukrainian flag pin he always wore as a sign of protest and accused Zelenskyy of "honoring UPA bandits," which, he said, "offended him personally and all the Poles who were killed."
- Bartosz Cichocki, Poland’s former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, officially returned the Order "For Merit" that Zelenskyy had awarded him in 2022, in response to this decision.
- Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau at the Office of the President of Poland, stated that Volodymyr Zelenskyy should personally call his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki and formally apologize for naming a Special Operations Forces unit "after the Heroes of the UPA."
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, for Ukrainian military personnel, "the UPA's struggle symbolizes resistance to Moscow's imperial policies—and is in no way directed against Poles."
