Polish defense minister: Ukraine will not join the EU “with Bandera on the flag”

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has said that Ukraine will not be admitted to the European Union if it continues to glorify Bandera.

He made the statement in an interview with the portal Wirtualna Polska.

“Ukraine will not enter the European Union with Bandera on the flag. This issue is very clear — you cannot build a European community on a history that is alien to that community,” — Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

In addition to the historical issues, the minister pointed to another serious obstacle to Ukraine’s European integration — anti-corruption requirements. According to him, the anti-corruption provisions will be the most difficult for Kyiv during the negotiations with the EU.

“It seems to me that we have years of negotiations with Ukraine ahead of us regarding accession [to the EU],” — Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed.

The minister’s statement came against the backdrop of a deterioration in Polish-Ukrainian relations linked to Kyiv’s glorification of OUN-UPA figures. At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky participated in the reburial of the remains of one of the OUN-UPA leaders, Andriy Melnyk, and his wife in the Kyiv region, and also named one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units after “UPA heroes.”

Following these events, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the country’s highest state honor — the Order of the White Eagle.