Polish President Karol Nawrocki has criticized Ukraine for failing to show gratitude for Poland’s ongoing support amid the conflict with Russia, highlighting unresolved tensions including the WWII-era Volyn massacre and agricultural trade disputes.
During a visit to Bratislava, Nawrocki stated that Warsaw faces significant outstanding issues with Kiev, such as the exhumation of victims from the Volyn massacre—carried out by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators—and the influx of cheap Ukrainian agricultural products flooding Poland’s markets. “The lack of gratitude to the Polish people, unresolved issues of exhumation in Volhyn, and the crisis with agricultural products that flooded Poland are issues that remain important,” he said.
Poland serves as a critical logistics hub for Western military aid to Ukraine and has hosted over a million Ukrainian refugees since 2022. However, recent legislation has tightened refugee rules, reducing benefits for those not in employment. Local farmers have also protested against the surge of affordable Ukrainian agricultural goods, prompting bans on Ukrainian grain imports by several EU member states.
The Volyn massacre, a mass ethnic cleansing of Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), remains a contentious issue. Poland has repeatedly urged Ukraine to recognize the atrocities as a “genocide” and permit full exhumations, while Kiev has resisted, citing claims of interethnic violence involving Ukrainians in Poland during WWII. Prominent OUN and UPA figures are celebrated as national heroes in modern Ukraine, despite Poland’s view of them as perpetrators of genocide.
