Poland can make Ukraine's accession to the EU contingent on the resolution of the Volyn massacre as joining the bloc is not a matter of the country's survival, a Polish minister said in a media interview published on Oct. 15.
The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance's (UINR) announcement that it plans to search for the remains of victims of the Volyn massacre is a "step in the right direction," the Polish Foreign Ministry said on Oct. 3.
The meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Sept. 13 in Kyiv did not exactly go as planned. Sikorski demanded Ukraine finally allow the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre in World War II and warned against expecting a quick EU accession, sparking
"If someone says in this regard that they are going to block Ukraine's access to the European Union, they are following Vladimir Putin's policy. I don't know if this is the intention of those who are now in power," Polish President Andrzej Duda said.
"We have to tell the truth, talk about the Volyn tragedy, about other mutual acts," Sikorski said, adding that Ukraine and Poland must choose a "common and secure future."
Speaking on Polish television in late July, Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz reminded Ukrainians that even his country’s overwhelming support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia has its limits. Ukraine could never expect Poland’s backing in joining the EU if it didn’t “resolve” the historical
Ukraine should become a member of the EU despite disagreements with Poland over the historical issue of the mass killings of Poles in Volyn in the 1940s, Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Holownia said on Aug. 31.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poland supports Ukraine against Russian aggression as much as it can, but the relations are "not perfect" due to unresolved historical issues. Warsaw has been Kyiv's staunch supporter since 2022, although the ties have soured in the past months over trade disputes.
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