Zelensky on relations with Poland. “I want to say it completely honestly.”

I want to say with complete sincerity that our relations with Poland have indeed improved. For this, I am very grateful to Poland, our teams, the Prime Minister and the Polish nation for supporting Ukraine. It is very important for us to stand together against the enemy now. There is one enemy - Russia, and it is very worried that Ukraine and Poland are forming a strong alliance - Zelensky replied to a question from journalists on the WhatsApp group.

We just need to strengthen our relationships and try to solve any problematic issues more calmly. I am convinced that we will cope even with very difficult issues, said the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky noted that his meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summit was successful and thanked the head of the Polish government for his support.

Our relations will be beneficial to both sides, based on mutual respect and awareness of the importance of security in Europe, said the president.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Tusk emphasized during his meeting with the President of Ukraine that "there is absolutely no reason" for the European Union to weaken sanctions against Russia.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Interfax-Ukraine agency reported that for the first time since June, when relations between Kiev and Warsaw worsened, Zelensky went on a foreign trip from the airport in Rzeszów.

Zelensky's decision at the end of May to name a military unit "UPA heroes" sparked a wave of criticism in Poland. It was assessed negatively by, among others, Prime Minister Tusk, the head of the Ministry of National Defense, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the Ministry of Diplomacy, and President Karol Nawrocki announced on June 19 that he had decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from Zełenski. A day later, Zelensky sent the order to Warsaw via a courier company.

The Order of the White Eagle was also renounced by former presidents of Ukraine: Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko, and other Polish state decorations were returned by: the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy Ihor Zhovkva and the ambassador of Ukraine to Poland Vasyl Bodnar.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) remains one of the most controversial topics in Polish-Ukrainian relations. According to Polish historians, in July 1943, UPA troops carried out coordinated attacks on approximately 150 towns inhabited by Poles in Volhynia, which became the culmination of a crime known in Poland as the Volhynian genocide. The perpetrators are members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists of Stepan Bandera's faction and the UPA subordinated to it.

Poland recognizes the crimes committed against the Polish population as genocide, while many Ukrainian historians and politicians interpret them as part of a broader Polish-Ukrainian conflict for which both sides were responsible. At the same time, in Ukrainian historical memory, the OUN and UPA are often perceived as symbols of the struggle for independence and post-war resistance against the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian document on the National Pantheon allows, among others, commemorating figures associated with these organizations.