Polish president Karol Nawrocki promises to push for a ban on the UPA flag in Poland

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has said he will do everything possible to ban the UPA flag on Polish territory.

The statement was made during a memorial ceremony in the village of Radruż, held on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Volhynia Massacre.

At the ceremony, Nawrocki laid wreaths at a monument to those killed and delivered a speech lasting nearly 20 minutes.

“I will do everything so that it [the UPA flag] is not present in Poland. I believe that the Polish parliament will pass a law, because this flag is Blut und Boden — ‘Blood and Soil.’ That is what it symbolized, and it embodied and still embodies today the entire ideology of the Ukrainian nationalist who killed Polish women and children,” Nawrocki said (as quoted by Rzeczpospolita).

The Polish president clarified that he is accusing not the Ukrainian people but the “Bandera ideology.” According to him, it must disappear “not only in Poland, but in a united Europe,” since in the 21st century it is unacceptable to “appeal to the black and red.” Nawrocki also recalled that within the ideological framework of the OUN, crime was presented as a method of action.

“Glorifying genocide is encouraging the commission of a new genocide. Let us never confuse reconciliation with amnesia. Is yesterday’s death any less significant than tomorrow’s?” the Polish president said.

The statement came against the backdrop of a deterioration in Polish-Ukrainian relations linked to UPA symbolism. In June, one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units was named after UPA heroes. Shortly afterward, Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Poland’s Order of the White Eagle, and the Ukrainian leader returned the award to Warsaw by mail.

Following this, a number of Ukrainian politicians renounced Polish state awards: Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, head of Zelensky’s office Kyrylo Budanov, as well as former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kuchma and Petro Poroshenko.

On July 9, Polish MEP Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik tore up a UPA flag during a speech in the European Parliament in protest against Ukraine’s accession to the EU.