Ukraine proposes 'anti-crisis' measures to defuse tensions with Poland
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Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha proposed a package of "anti-crisis steps" meant to allay tensions between Ukraine and Poland during a meeting with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski in Warsaw on July 3, Sybiha said.
The ministers' meeting comes a time of strained relations between Kyiv and Warsaw due to disputes over history, memory, and the legacy of World War II.
"Ukraine remains open to an equal and honest dialogue," Sybiha wrote on social media following his meeting with Sikorski.
"I proposed a package of anti-crisis steps. This includes initiating consultations between our foreign ministries, organizing a meeting of World War II expert historians who participated in the Polish-Ukrainian Congress of Historians in May, and reaching out to the religious leaders of both nations to leverage their authority in our bilateral dialogue."
The Polish Foreign Ministry said the officials agreed to work towards improving bilateral relations in a statement issued after the talks.
"The ministers agreed that the key to improving our relations is historical dialogue based on truth and respect for the past," the ministry said.
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The current diplomatic crisis began when President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to rename a Ukrainian military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a controversial nationalist group that fought for Ukraine's independence during World War II.
While Ukrainian history memorializes the UPA as freedom fighters, the unit evokes painful memories in Poland due to its role in perpetrating the Volyn massacres, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians were killed in a region of present-day western Ukraine then under Nazi occupation.
The renaming sparked swift backlash in Warsaw, with Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoking Zelensky's Order of the White Eagle on June 19. Several senior Ukrainian officials, including Sybiha, returned Polish state honors in protest of the revocation.
Other officials in Poland have urged caution. Sikorski called Nawrocki's decision to strip Zelensky of the title an "inappropriate" response "because it humiliated the president of Ukraine personally."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the continued involvement of Polish and Ukrainian politicians in the controversy a "strategic mistake" that would harm both countries.
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In their meeting on July 3, Sybiha and Sikorski acknowledged the strides Ukraine and Poland have made in recent years towards confronting the wounds of the past. These include allowing exhumations of Volyn massacre victims and the cooperation of Polish and Ukrainian scholars at a recent historical congress.
"We respect the history of others, and we expect the same approach toward our own history and independence from our partners," Sybiha wrote.
The foreign ministers also discussed Ukraine's progress on the battlefield, defense support, the upcoming NATO summit in Turkey, economic cooperation, and the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk.
Sybiha expressed gratitude for Poland's steadfast support for Ukraine's defense against Russia throughout the full-scale invasion and called on both nations to "set emotions aside" and work together towards shared goals.
"I want to thank Radek for a candid and constructive conversation. Our job as diplomats is to maintain dialogue and utilize every tool in the diplomatic arsenal to solve problems. It is time to set emotions aside. .... We possess enough wisdom, lessons from our shared history, and political will to put an end to the applause in Moscow, which rejoices at any rising tension between two of the closest neighbors," Sybiha said.
"History will not forgive us if this opportunity is squandered."
