The presidents of Ukraine and Poland agreed to eliminate historical contradictions between the countries, and Volodymyr Zelensky even proposed to build a joint reconciliation memorial on the border.
The presidents of Ukraine and Poland agreed to eliminate historical contradictions between the countries, and Volodymyr Zelensky even proposed to build a joint reconciliation memorial on the border.
They were reported as saying this at a joint briefing after a meeting in Warsaw, according to ВВСnews.
“Thank you for this warm dialogue, not even for the dialogue, but a warm conversation,” Volodymyr Zelensky concluded his speech.
Historical contradictions in recent years have been a serious problem in relations between the two countries. The most acute practical problem was suspension of the search, arrangement and legalization of Polish places of memory in Ukraine in response to the dismantling of a number of monuments to the dead Ukrainians in Poland, in particular, soldiers of the UPA. Judging from the speeches of both leaders at the briefing after the meeting, overcoming the historical contradictions between the countries was one of the most important topics. "We would like both of us to normalize interpersonal relations against this background. The path to this lies in marking and identifying any person who died or was killed, providing them with a tombstone, indicating a surname on the table, arranging this on the mass graves. This requires exhumation work," Mr. Duda said.
"Mr. President said that the new government is at the stage of formation, and this issue will be implemented," Duda said. The Polish President stressed that the issue of places of memory is of fundamental importance for the Poles. "This is a fundamental issue that will improve our joint actions in the future," Andrzej Duda concluded. In turn, he promised to do the same in Poland.
“I undertake to undertake the relevant actions in Poland, to talk with various communities and local authorities, so that we can cooperate with Mr. President, and the actions were bilateral. This is important for both countries,” the Polish President said. Volodymyr Zelensky said that the negotiations were not only words, but also specific terms and steps." He said that the presidents openly talked about historical issues and did not find any issue that could not be resolved in the dialogue.
"We agreed to update and restart the bilateral working group which will work under the patronage of the two presidents. In order that the spots of the past did not prevent to build the joint bright future," Zelensky told journalists.
Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his readiness to unblock the granting of permits for search operations in Ukraine, and the Polish side would arrange for Ukrainian places of memory in Poland.
"I proposed to President Duda to build a common memorial of reconciliation on the border of Ukraine and Poland," Zelensky concluded. However, he did not specify whether they agreed on this issue.
In the past few years, Ukraine has stopped the search, arrangement and legalization of the Polish places of memory. This was a response to the destruction or dismantling of dozens of Ukrainian monuments in Poland. Due to the lack of proper reaction of the Polish authorities to the destruction of Ukrainian monuments, the Institute of National Memory suspended the process of legalization of Polish memorial sites in Ukraine.
The work of the joint Ukrainian-Polish working group on this issue was actually blocked.
For example, on 26 April 2017, a monument to the UPA soldiers was dismantled at the cemetery Grochowicz, a Polish village near Przemysl. At that time, Ukraine called such actions a blatant provocation on the eve of remebrance of the 70th anniversary of the criminal action "Vistula".
It worsened the situation when some amendments to the legislation in Poland were made, in particular, with regard to "crimes of Ukrainian nationalists". The Polish side has consistently accused the UPA in the destruction of the Poles during the "Volyn tragedy." In turn, Ukrainian side presents arguments that during the Second World War the attacks on the civilian population were launched both by Ukrainian and Polish troops.
During his previous visits to Warsaw, President Petro Poroshenko apologized and called on Ukrainians and Poles for mutual forgiveness.