&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "Ukraine's turbulent past with Poland continues to haunt Zelensky as the war escalates world news")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was furious after last month's meeting with Poland's top diplomat, who showed how he was hampering Ukraine's ambitions to quickly join the European Union.
During the exchange in Kiev, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also emphasized Warsaw's demand that victims of ethnic pogroms during World War II be expelled from lands currently belonging to Ukraine and linked it to talks on EU membership, according to participants.
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The split coincided with the war exhaustion of Kiev's Western allies, with Russian troops making crushing advances in the country's east. Zelensky's pressure on Ukraine, a country larger than France and an agricultural powerhouse, to quickly join the EU suggests a growing rift among his key supporters.
It comes as Kiev is also struggling to gain support for its NATO bid and grapples with arms and money shortages ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, where participants present widely divergent views on ending the war.
Renewed tensions with Ukraine's EU neighbor, which also strained relations during Russia's invasion, underscore Kiev's difficult path to integration with the West during the war.
“Ukraine is in a very complicated situation, and not only because of the war,” said Judy Dempsey, a resident at Carnegie Europe in Berlin. “It's kind of unfinished business about the past.”
A year ago the situation looked more promising. After returning to the office of Prime Minister, Donald Tusk promised to improve relations that had suffered under the previous nationalist government. This administration imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain imports in response to farmers who claimed that prices had fallen due to an excess of wheat from the east.
Polish farmers protest against grain imports from Ukraine
A tank made of agricultural materials during a demonstration of Polish farmers against the import of Ukrainian grain, February 27 in Warsaw.
Officials in Kiev also expressed hope that Tusk, a former president of the European Council, could be an ally to lead Kiev on the path to EU accession, a labyrinthine process that could take decades.
But Tusk also had to navigate Polish politics. Announcing rallying support for Kiev in his first speech to parliament last December, the prime minister confirmed he would show “cordial and friendly firmness” on issues that could threaten Poland's national interests.
Memories from Volhynia
If EU accession can be discussed in political forums, the 1943 massacre of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists in Volhynia becomes more than just a matter of debate among historians. It is estimated that around 100,000 people died in the slaughterhouse, including women and children.
Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who heads one of the lower parties in the ruling coalition, said Ukraine's accession to the EU was out of the question unless the deceased was treated with respect. Tusk said the same thing.
“If we want to build a better future, we must dig out this history,” he said at a press conference in Warsaw at the end of August. “Until Ukraine respects these values, Ukraine will definitely not become part of the European family.”
It is true that Poland has always called for greater military support for Ukraine, tougher sanctions against Russia, and has accepted almost 2 million refugees since the beginning of the war. However, both countries have painful historical chapters ahead of them that they must work through.
The division of Ukrainian lands between Poland and the Soviet Union after World War I fueled ethnic resentment as Warsaw introduced repressive policies aimed at assimilating the new population. The escalation of hostilities ended with the massacre of Poles in Volhynia in 1943–1945 and the subsequent forced resettlement of approximately 150,000 Ukrainians.
Although Kiev acknowledged the atrocity in Volhynia, it insisted that Poland should not politicize the issue and seek a peaceful solution. However, Sikorski's focus on the meeting with Zelensky, which was also attended by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielias Landsbergis, showed that in Warsaw any intention to leave this issue to historians was not a good idea.
Sikorski often withdrew from the diplomatic craft. Asked about the meeting, the minister said in a radio interview that he knew “how to say it firmly” – and was assured that a solution would be found. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha met his Polish counterpart and President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw this month and said the talks were “constructive” and “pragmatic.”
“Skills of a psychotherapist”
And although Ukrainians have expressed confidence that they have resolved the problem – Zelensky attended a church service in the region with Duda in 2023 – Poles say they will maintain their demands. Leaving the issue unresolved creates an opening for extremists and weakens support for Kiev, a Polish government official said.
Oleksandr Kwasniewski, who was Poland's president from 1995 to 2005, said that during his time as head of state he worked with Ukraine to resolve the conflict, including a reconciliation agreement, scientific working groups and celebrations.
The former president, whose father was a genocide survivor, said he warned Sikorski that mistakes in handling the problem would only fuel extremists and encouraged him to take a more measured approach.
“We need a strong representative of the interests of Poland, Europe and the West, but also a very sensitive advocate of Ukraine's expectations,” Kwaśniewski said in an interview. This effort “requires the skill of a psychotherapist who understands the sensitivity of the entire situation,” he said.
