Ukrainian and Polish presidents remember WWII Volhynia massacres
- ‘Together we honour the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us! Together we are stronger!’ Zelensky said on Telegram. The event was not publicised in advance
- During the war, nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army murdered around 100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Sunday commemorated the Volhynia massacres of World War II in an event in Lutsk, the north-western Ukrainian city where it took place.
“Together we honour the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us! Together we are stronger!” Zelensky said on Telegram. The event was not publicised in advance.
During the war, nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) murdered around 100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945.
Zelensky published photos showing himself, Duda and clerics in the city which lies some 85km east of the Polish border.
The UPA’s campaign at the time was aimed at reinforcing Ukrainian claims to the region through an uprising against the occupying German forces and by removing the Polish civilian population.
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The violence reached a peak in July 1943, with victims being herded into churches and burnt alive. Up to 20,000 Ukrainians died in the subsequent reprisals.
Clerics from Ukraine and Poland have called for the crimes to be investigated and for reconciliation to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacres.
