Prime Minister commemorates victims of Volhynia Massacre
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has paid tribute to Poles murdered by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists during the Second World War when their village was razed to the ground.
The inhabitants of the now non-existent village of Ostrowki, in what is now western Ukraine, were killed as part of what is known as the Volhynia Massacre.
The massacre claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 Poles and still casts a shadow over Polish-Ukrainian relations despite the strong bonds between the two countries forged by Russia's invasion.
On Friday morning Morawiecki travelled to where Ostrowki once stood together with Leon Popek, one of the village's descendants and a researcher of the Volhynia Massacre.
The prime minister helped place a wooden cross to commemorate the murdered Poles, and visited the cemetery where the victims of village's destruction, which took place on August 30, 1943, are buried.
Morawiecki's visit comes just days before July 11, the day designated for official commemorations of the massacre.
The day poses a diplomatic challenge for Warsaw. The Polish government would like Kyiv to recognise the culpability of Ukrainians for the massacre, while at the same time avoiding a clash over history that could undermine Poland's strong relations with Ukraine.
Last month, Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, said Poland and Ukraine had agreed to cooperate in marking the 80th anniversary of the massacre. But earlier this week a Polish deputy prime minister said the massacre was still "a thorn" in Polish-Ukrainian relations. (PAP)
