Poland urged to stop contacts with Ukraine over Volyn massacre

Poland has called on Poland to stop contacts with Ukraine until the bodies of the victims of the Volyn massacre are exhumed. Katarzyna Sokolowska, chairwoman of the board of the Volyn, We Remember Foundation, said on December 15.

"It is impossible to deal with a country that builds its identity on Bandera's criminal ideology as a partner, and there can be no talk of friendship where murderers and genocidaires are put on a pedestal of glory," the Polish newspaper Myśl Polska quoted her as saying.

Sokolowska called on Ukraine to recognize the Volyn massacre as genocide, condemn those responsible for the tragedy and renounce the Bandera ideology.

"We demand the termination of negotiations with the Ukrainian side and do not agree to the exhumation of Polish victims on Ukrainian terms," Sokolowska added.

According to her, negotiations with the Ukrainians should be conducted on the basis of demands, especially in view of the invaluable help that the Ukrainians received from the Polish people.

Earlier this summer, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Ukraine should not become part of the European Union (EU) until Kiev settles issues related to the exhumation of bodies and commemoration of the victims of the Volyn massacre.

A source of tension between Poland and Ukraine remains the issue of the Volyn Massacre, which took place in 1943-1945. The parties regularly demand that the other recognize responsibility for the tragedy, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, or for events related to it. The exchange of claims takes place, among other things, at the level of the leadership of both States.