Poland marks Volhynia massacre anniversary amid diplomatic row with Ukraine

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland has commemorated the anniversary of the Volhynia massacres , in which Ukrainian nationalists slaughtered around 100,000 Poles during World War Two.

This year’s events took on particular significance as they came amid a diplomatic dispute with Ukraine over President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to name a military unit after the “heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)”, parts of which were responsible for leading the massacres.

In a speech to mark the anniversary, Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, condemned the “evil ideology” of Ukrainian nationalism but emphasised he is “not condemning the entire Ukrainian nation”. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced plans for a Wall of Remembrance in Warsaw that will include the names of victims.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), announced that it is submitting a proposed resolution to parliament declaring that Poland will oppose Ukraine’s accession to the European Union as long as Kyiv continues to “glorify criminals”.

Prezydent RP @NawrockiKn w #Radruż : pic.twitter.com/ZikMNd5BMD

— Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) July 11, 2026

Nawrocki has been at the heart of the recent dispute. In response to Zelensky’s decision to name a unit after the UPA, he decided to strip the Ukrainian president of Poland’s highest honour , the Order of the White Eagle.

Today, he visited the small village of Radruż in southeast Poland, less than a kilometre from the Ukrainian border. During the Volhynia massacres, Radruż was one of many villages where the UPA and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), another nationalist group, massacred Polish civilians.

“We refuse to allow the 120,000 Poles – civilians, women and children – brutally murdered by Ukrainian nationalists to be forgotten,” declared Nawrocki.

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Poland commemorates the massacres on 11 July because that was the date in 1943, known as “Bloody Sunday” in Poland, that saw the apogee of the killings, with the OUN and UPA massacring Poles in dozens of locations.

In 2016, a parliamentary resolution declared 11 July a day of remembrance. Last year, the date was turned into an official state holiday through a law passed by parliament and signed into law by then-President Andrzej Duda.

Ukraine protested against the bill , which referred to the massacres as “a crime of genocide against the Polish population”. Kyiv said that Poland’s move to commemorate “the so-called ‘genocide’…flies in the face of the spirit of good neighbourly relations” and “does not contribute to mutual understanding”.

Ukraine has criticised plans by Poland to create a "day of remembrance for Polish victims of the genocide" carried out by Ukrainian nationalists during WWII.

Kyiv says the idea “flies in the face of the spirit of good neighbourly relations” https://t.co/zkdebpw1G4

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 5, 2025

Speaking in Radruż today, Nawrocki acknowledged that prewar Poland, on whose territory the Volhynia massacres later took place while under Nazi-German occupation, “was not a paradise” for the millions of ethnic Ukrainians who lived there.

But, he added, this does not justify the events that later took place, which were fuelled by the “evil ideology” of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera , whose followers were responsible for the massacres.

In his remarks, Nawrocki also paid tribute to the “righteous Ukrainians” who tried to help Poles during the massacres, and were as a result often themselves murdered by the nationalists.

“Today, we are not condemning the entire Ukrainian nation; we are condemning the Bandera ideology,” said the Polish president. “Today, we need truth and memory for a better future in the 21st century, without genocidal perpetrators and without genocidal symbols.”

Polish and Ukrainian media have widely quoted Poland's deputy PM as saying: “With Bandera, Ukraine will not enter the EU.”

However, he did not actually speak those words.

We explain what @KosiniakKamysz actually said and how it came to be misinterpreted https://t.co/S3bozRIJTA

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 1, 2026

While Nawrocki is aligned with the right-wing Polish opposition, and regularly clashes with the government, earlier on Saturday Tusk published a recorded speech that contained a similar message.

“Truth is our duty to the victims, but also the way to overcome the painful past and achieve a better future,” said the prime minister. “And truth means identifying and naming the guilty, and unequivocal condemnation of this crime.”

Tusk added that the victims also “cannot remain nameless and without a dignified burial”. His government and Nawrocki have pushed for Ukraine to allow searches for and exhumations of massacre victims on its territory. Last year, Kyiv permitted them to resume after a longstanding moratorium.

In his speech today, Tusk announced that a Wall of Remembrance would now be created in Warsaw featuring “an eternal flame and the names of each victim found and identified”.

Pamięć nie może być sługą nienawiści. pic.twitter.com/x2fdcrZV63

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) July 11, 2026

The Polish prime minister also alluded to the fact that Poland expects Ukraine to acknowledge and resolve issues relating to the Volhynia massacres before it is allowed to join the EU .

“A Europe of peace and mutual respect, a Europe reconciled after World War Two, was made possible by truth and calling things by their proper names,” said Tusk. “Anyone who wishes to join this community must be ready for this truth.”

Separately on Saturday, the opposition PiS party, which is aligned with Nawrocki, announced that it was submitting a proposed resolution to parliament that would declare Poland’s opposition to Ukraine’s EU accession while Kyiv continues to “glorify criminals”.

“The EU cannot be based on an ideology that contradicts Christian, European values,” declared PiS deputy leader Przemysław Czarnek, quoted by Polsat News. “It cannot have among its members a country that openly invokes the worst possible legacy.”

📢 Składamy projekt sejmowej uchwały w sprawie sprzeciwu wobec członkostwa Ukrainy w strukturach Unii Europejskiej.  Ukraina z banderyzmem, z gloryfikowaniem ludobójców, którzy dokonali niebywale brutalnej zbrodni na narodzie polskim, nie wejdzie do UE – Wiceprezes PiS, kandydat… pic.twitter.com/lcfpqWSeMX

— Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (@pisorgpl) July 11, 2026

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Przeymysław Keler/KPRP