Poland’s EU deal for Ukraine hinges on settling Volhynia massacre dispute

Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has declared that Ukraine’s accession to the European Union cannot proceed until the dispute over the Volhynia massacre is resolved.

"There will be no Ukraine's entry into the EU if the Volhynia issue is not resolved," Kosiniak-Kamysz stated while speaking on Polish TV channel, Caliber.Az reports.

He emphasized that while Warsaw is committed to supporting Kyiv, the unresolved historical issues prevent the relationship between the two countries from being "ideal."

The massacre in Volhynia was one of the most traumatic pages in Poland's recent history, and an issue which, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, constantly poisoned Polish-Ukrainian relations.

These ethnic purges carried out by the militia of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 cost the lives of almost 100,000 Polish civilians. Hundreds of villages were wiped off the map on land in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia that had belonged to Poland between the wars and was claimed by Ukrainian nationalists.