Nawrocki’s chancellery calls western regions of Ukraine “Eastern Lesser Poland”

The head of the Polish president’s chancellery, Zbigniew Bogucki, referred to the western regions of Ukraine as “Eastern Lesser Poland” and criticized the glorification of Stepan Bandera.

This was reported by PAP.

“In my view, and especially in the view of President [Karol Nawrocki], as well as for the overwhelming majority of Poles, the glorification of [Stepan] Bandera, of criminals who committed the inhuman crimes of genocide in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland, is not a path to the Western world, to the world of civilization, or to shared European or transatlantic values,” Bogucki said.

Bogucki also stressed that Poland and its president would never accept this, and that the voices of the victims “will not be drowned out by the voices of Bandera’s supporters.” He characterized the actions of the Ukrainian side as “confrontational and very bad.”

“Eastern Lesser Poland” is the historical name for the territory of the Lwów, Tarnopol, and Stanisławów voivodeships of Poland, used during the interwar period. This territory is divided between Poland and Ukraine.

Bogucki’s statement came against the backdrop of a series of high-profile decisions by the Ukrainian side. On June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle — the country’s highest state honor. The reason was Zelensky’s decision to name one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades after figures of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army; the organization is banned in Russia).

In early June, the outlet RBK-Ukraine reported that Kyiv intended to create a “national pantheon” that could include OUN leader (the organization is banned in Russia) Stepan Bandera, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, diplomat Pylyp Orlyk, Supreme Otaman of the UNR Symon Petliura, Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, and other historical figures. On July 1, Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced that the Ukrainian parliament had voted to establish a “Ukrainian national pantheon.”

The chancellery of President Nawrocki criticized this decision and stated that the submission of the corresponding bill to the Verkhovna Rada was yet another step aggravating relations with Poland.