Poland denies suspending military aid to Ukraine over historical commemoration dispute
Poland's Defense Ministry has denied reports that it suspended a major military aid package for Ukraine following a dispute over a Ukrainian regional council's decision to commemorate the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its commander Roman Shukhevych.
"That information is false," ministry spokesperson Janusz Sejmej told Polish newspaper Fakt.
The denial followed a report by Ukrainian outlet European Pravda, which cited an unnamed Ukrainian government source as saying that deliveries of a large Polish military aid package had been suspended because of the controversy.
On October 20, the Lviv Regional Council adopted resolutions designating 2027 as a year commemorating the UPA, Shukhevych and Ukrainian nationalist figure Oleh Olzhych.
The decision drew strong criticism in Poland, where the UPA is held responsible for the mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the decision unacceptable, while Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that such actions benefited Ukraine's enemies.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also criticized the resolutions, saying they had been adopted at the regional level without consultation with the central government and undermined efforts to improve Ukrainian-Polish relations.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said representatives of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had assured Warsaw that the resolutions would not take effect.
Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said he had signed a request to place Lviv regional council member Sviatoslav Sheremeta, who initiated the commemorations, on Poland's list of undesirable persons.
The dispute has also prompted calls in the Polish cities of Przemyśl and Kraków to suspend their partnerships with Lviv.