Tusk: Ukraine Must Reckon with History to Join EU

Ukraine is looking for ways to ease tensions in its relations with Poland, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said following a meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries in Warsaw on Friday. He also emphasized that Kyiv must come to terms with its history if it wants to join the European Union.

Relations between the neighboring countries have reached their deepest crisis since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Volodymyr Zelensky of Poland's highest state honor. He justified the move by saying that a Ukrainian military unit had been named after members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

Some Ukrainians view the UPA as a symbol of the struggle against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and of the fight for independence from Moscow. Poland, however, holds the UPA responsible for the Volhynia massacres of 1943–1945, in which, according to Warsaw, approximately 100,000 Poles were killed. Thousands of Ukrainians also died in retaliatory attacks.

Tusk also said he would ask the Polish delegation at the upcoming NATO summit to exercise caution in pledging further financial aid to Ukraine. He cited the need to protect the European Union's eastern border.

(Reuters, bak)