Sikorski: Holding behind-the-scenes talks with Ukraine over unit named after Ukrainian Insurgent Army Heroes

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has revealed that non-public talks are underway with Ukraine over the decision to name a Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit after the Heroes of the UPA. He has expressed hope that Ukraine would find "a way to correct this mistake". [The UPA, or the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was a nationalist paramilitary organisation that fought for Ukrainian independence during and after World War II, primarily against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union – ed.]

As reported by Polish news channel Polsat News, during a meeting with residents of Tarnogród in Lublin Voivodeship, Sikorski was asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to confer the honorary designation "named after the Heroes of the UPA" upon the Separate Special Operations Centre North.

"I believe President Zelenskyy made a mistake," the Polish foreign minister said.

He added that "history is complicated and not every hero should be honoured by other countries, but there are limits".

"I would expect the Ukrainian side to take our sensitivities into account. For them, the UPA is associated with resistance to Soviet rule, while for us it is associated with Volhynia," he said. [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles – ed.]

Sikorski also noted that behind-the-scenes negotiations are ongoing and expressed hope that the Ukrainian side would find "some way to correct this mistake".

In his view, Poland has the right to be disappointed and to demand a correction, but it must not allow Russian disinformation to drive a wedge between the two countries. "Because then both Ukraine and Poland will lose," the minister added.

Marcin Przydacz, the head of the Polish President's Bureau of International Policy, said Zelenskyy should apologise to Polish President Karol Nawrocki over the conferral of the UPA Heroes designation on the Ukrainian unit.

Amid the controversy, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry stated that in initiating the honorary designation for their unit, the Special Operations Forces soldiers "certainly had no intention of offending the friendly Polish people".