Controversial Polish politician boasts of smashing UPA monument with hammer
Grzegorz Braun, leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown party, has damaged a monument to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in the village of Białystok in Poland. [The UPA 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.]
"This matter should have been dealt with on the very first day after this, incidentally, an anonymous and unauthorised structure was discovered by the relevant services – and not necessarily the special services. This obelisk, which insults the memory of the victims of the Ukrainian genocide against Poles, should be dismantled using professional equipment, which should be brought here immediately after documenting the crime of justifying Nazism and Banderism," Braun said in a video.
The video shows Braun using a hammer to smash the names of Ukrainians engraved on the stone.
Pomnik UPA w gminie Dołhobyczów w powiecie hrubieszowskim do likwidacji❗️
Obelisk obrażający pamięć ofiar ukraińskiego Ludobójstwa na Polakach powinien zostać usunięty profesjonalnymi narzędziami natychmiast po udokumentowaniu przestępstwa banderyzmu!#StopBanderyzacjiPolski… pic.twitter.com/8Q4QZ2z5vJ– Grzegorz Braun (@GrzegorzBraun_) September 10, 2026
The granite obelisk commemorates Ukrainians who were killed in battles against the Soviet NKVD. It stands in the village of Białystok, in the Dołhobyczów municipality (Hrubieszów County), where the Ukrainians who were killed were buried in 1946.
European Pravda emphasises that the monument was erected directly at the site of a mass grave. The memorial site has existed since the 1990s and has been in its current form – a stone bearing the engraved names of those killed – since 2019.
The obelisk has been vandalised several times. In the summer of 2026, it was spray-painted and an arch decorating the stone was cut away. The Ukrainian Embassy formally condemned the act of vandalism at the time.
The monument was subjected to another act of vandalism just days ago, and police are searching for those responsible.
In late August, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said that the inclusion of figures such as Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in Ukraine's National Pantheon would create major problems for the country's integration into the EU.