Poland to build Warsaw memorial for Volhynia massacre victims
Why it matters: The move revives a long-running Poland-Ukraine dispute as Kyiv seeks closer ties with the EU during Russia’s war.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland will build a Wall of Remembrance in Warsaw for civilians killed by Ukrainian nationalist forces during World War II, reopening a fraught historical dispute with Kyiv. The memorial will include an eternal flame and the names of identified victims. Poland says 70,000 to 100,000 ethnic Poles were killed in Volhynia and nearby areas between 1943 and 1945 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, while reprisals killed up to 12,000 Ukrainians. Tusk linked historical truth to European reconciliation and said countries seeking to join that community must confront the past. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said Ukraine was working to establish the facts and stressed that both countries now face a common threat from Russia.