Poland, Ukraine clash over Remembrance Day for OUN-UPA genocide victims

Polish Sejm. Photo: Facebook page of Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

The Polish Sejm has declared the establishment of a National Day of Remembrance for Poles who were victims of the genocide committed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The date of observance will be July 11.

According to the Sejm's statement, between 1939 and 1946, Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN and UPA, operating "in the territories of the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic," "committed acts of genocide against the Polish population."

The document asserts that more than 100,000 Poles were killed. The atrocities are said to have occurred in areas that today constitute Ukraine’s Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv regions, as well as in Polissia.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a sharp response to the Sejm’s decision, referring to the genocide as “so-called” and calling the resolution itself one that “runs counter to the spirit of good neighborly relations between Ukraine and Poland.”

The ministry also reminded Poland that Ukraine and Poland “share a common enemy – Russia.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Epifaniy Dumenko had said members of the OCU take pride in being called Banderites.

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