Poland's Sejm speaker urges restraint after Ukraine's pantheon decision
The speaker of Poland's lower house of parliament has called for a measured response to Ukraine's decision to establish a National Pantheon to honour those who fought for the country's freedom - a move that could include figures who remain deeply divisive in the two countries' shared history.
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed the legislation on Wednesday, amid a diplomatic dispute with Poland regarding the naming of a military unit after Ukrainian wartime organisation which Poland accuses of murdering tens of thousands of Poles.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of Ukraine's parliament, said that the pantheon would honour "the best sons and daughters of the Ukrainian nation."
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty urged caution, noting that it remained unclear who would ultimately be included in the pantheon.
"First of all, we do not know the names that will appear on that list," he said. "Secondly, this is Ukraine's decision to make. Therefore, Ukraine takes full responsibility for it."
Czarzasty argued that Poland should "reset" its approach to relations with Ukraine and ensure that its policy is guided primarily by Poland's own security interests.
"Our reactions must be sensible... taking into account the 1.5 million of Ukrainians living in Poland, who generate 3 percent of the Polish GDP," Czarzasty said.
He added that, as Ukraine is likely to join the European Union in the future and has developed advanced drone technology that could prove valuable if Poland's security were threatened, Warsaw should preserve working relations and open channels of communication with Kyiv.
"Whether we like it or not, neither Ukraine nor Poland is going to move on the map," Czarzasty said. "I am asking for good judgement when thinking about the future of Polish politics in five or ten years."
The current crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations has been caused by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to name one of Ukraine's military units after the "Heroes of UPA" (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). This triggered sharp criticism in Warsaw. Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, which Zelensky received from former president Andrzej Duda in 2023.
The issue of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) remains one of the deepest historical disputes between Poland and Ukraine. Poland considers the UPA responsible for the brutal mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945. In Ukraine, however, the group is widely regarded as a nationalist resistance movement that fought for independence against Soviet rule. (PAP)
wpb/jch
