Radosław Sikorski at the Yalta European strategy conference in Kiev criticized the commemoration of UPA and called on Ukraine to hit Russian refineries. The head of the MFA felt that the war could expire erstwhile the Kremlin ran out of resources. safety and fact about victims of the Volyn genocide are at stake for Poland.
The criticism of UPA cult fell in Kiev
Deputy Prime Minister and abroad Minister Radosław Sikorski called Volodymyr Zelenski's unfortunate decision to give 1 of the Ukrainian military units an honorary name associated with UPA. He recalled that the Ukrainian Povs dancing Army was liable for cultural cleansing in which tens of thousands of people died. He urged that the Ukrainians should not bring to the pedestal figures with specified essential opposition.
Those words fell out in Kiev, so where they should sound the most. Poland cannot agree to bring the Volyn genocide to an uncomfortable footnote in bilateral relations. The definition of the work of the UPA as an ambiguous affluent remains from the Polish position besides mild. Memory of the murdered requires precision, exhumation and worthy burials, not diplomatic evasion.
Sikorski stressed that reconciliation was possible, recalling the postwar way of France and Germany. However, Polish amnesia cannot be a condition. Reconciliation grows out of designation of fact and respect for graves. In fresh days dispute over the way of commemorating UPA again sparked the reactions of Warsaw and Kievwhich shows that the substance cannot be postponed without political costs.
Russian refineries as a mark of pressure
The second subject of the speech was war. Sikorski estimated that it could be concluded by an agreement or the exhaustion of resources that let Vladimir Putin to proceed his aggression. In this context, he pointed out that Ukraine should focus its impact on Russian refineries. It's about the fuel and financial resources of the war-torn state, not the Russian civilians as a collective target.
This diagnosis has strategical logic. The Kremlin is aggressive thanks to state resources, manufacture and energy sector influences. The Centre for east Studies points to the request to further reduce Russian natural material income, including through more effective sanctions and combat against the shadow fleet. The military force on the infrastructure utilized by the war device and the economical force of the West should be complementary.
The Minister besides argued that deterrence requires Europeans to be prepared to fight and to impose dense costs on Moscow. This is an crucial point for Poland. The NATO border state cannot build safety on declarations without coverage. He needs his own army, anti-aircraft defense, resilient infrastructure and alliances based on real capabilities.
Poland does not gotta choose between memory and security
Sikorski's visit to Ukraine besides included talks with representatives of the president's administration, anti-corruption services, veterans and youth. The head of Polish diplomacy besides met with Jonathan Powell, a British national safety advisor. The Minister himself arrived in Kiev under conditions of ongoing Russian threat.
Polish business requires 2 things at a time. Russia must bear the expanding cost of aggression, as its triumph would shift the threat closer to our borders. Kiev must besides hear clearly that the construction of state memory on the UPA cult hits relations with the nation that gave Ukraine large help.
There's no contradiction here. Supporting Ukrainian defence against Russia does not mean giving up Polish dignity, just as tough historical policy cannot turn into serving Kremlin's interests. Mature diplomacy combines safety with truth. Warsaw should talk to Kiev this way: without hostility towards Ukrainians, but besides without approval to worship perpetrators of crimes in Poles.
Source: Straight, Yalta European Strategy
Source: Banderism / Ukraine (monitor PL)
