Duda: The ban on Ukraine’s entry into the EU due to Volhynia is a reminder of the Kremlin’s position

Polish President Andrzej Duda contradicted recent statements by Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, according to which Ukraine should not join the European Union until the historic case of the murder of the tens of thousands of Poles in Volhynia in 1943 settled.

In a television interview Polsat the president said that similar rhetoric is reminiscent of the Kremlin’s stance. “If someone says in this context 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 current government’s intention,” he allowed himself to be heard.

At the same time, he said that one of the reasons why Russia attacked Ukraine was to prevent it from joining the Union.

The Volyn massacre, in which tens of thousands of Poles were killed, is a sensitive issue for both countries, which is also regulated in international relations.

In 2016, the Polish parliament recognized the killing as genocide, which Ukraine denies. But according to Duda, mutual understanding between the countries is essential. So his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, promised in 2019 to lift the Ukrainian moratorium on the extermination of the victims of Volyn, which was introduced in response to cases of destruction of monuments to the Insurgent Army of the -Ukraine (UPA) in Poland.

Last year, Duda and Zelenskyi met in the city of Lutsk, where they paid tribute together to the memory of the victims of the Volyn tragedy. Average she described it at the time as an important diplomatic step. However, the question of exterminating the Polish victims has not yet been resolved. But according to Duda, obtaining permission for decontamination plays an important role in Polish-Ukrainian relations.