Poland suspends military aid to Ukraine over Lviv regional council’s decision on the UPA

Poland halted the delivery of a military aid package to Ukraine after the Lviv Regional Council declared 2027 the year of remembrance of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and its commander-in-chief Roman Shukhevych.

This was reported by anonymous sources at RBC-Ukraine.

According to the publication’s sources, the Lviv Regional Council held its vote at the very moment Poland was preparing to send Ukraine a large-scale military aid package. After the deliveries were suspended, Kyiv reached out to Warsaw through back channels to resolve the incident.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said that “people from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team assured Warsaw that the Lviv Regional Council’s decision would not take effect,” and that information about the resolution was removed from the Lviv Regional Council’s website.

Shortly after the publication, Polish Ministry of National Defence spokesman Janusz Sejmej denied reports of a halt to military deliveries in a comment to the local outlet Fakt.

“This is false information,” — Sejmej said in response to a journalist’s question on the matter.

The conflict erupted after deputies at a plenary session of the Lviv Regional Council on October 20 voted in favor of a resolution declaring 2027 the year of UPA commander Roman Shukhevych and OUN figure Oleh Olzhych.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said he had signed a petition to place the initiator of the resolution on the persona non grata list: Poland banned Svyatoslav Sheremet from entering the Schengen Area for five years. Sikorski described Shukhevych as responsible for ordering “the expulsion and killing of Poles.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also commented on the situation, calling the Lviv Regional Council’s decision “unwise, harmful to Ukraine” and a “suicidal tactic.” According to him, together with Volodymyr Zelensky he had made considerable efforts to restore relations between Kyiv and Warsaw following the scandal over a Special Operations Forces unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces being named after UPA heroes.