Ukraine Proposes Crisis Talks with Poland Over Historical Dispute

Ukraine has proposed a set of crisis measures to Poland aimed at easing tensions over a controversial military unit name that has revived painful historical memories. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the initiative after talks in Warsaw with Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski.

The measures include launching consultations between the two foreign ministries, organizing a meeting of World War II historians who participated in the Polish-Ukrainian historians' congress in May, and reaching out to religious leaders from both countries to help address sensitive historical issues.

The dispute erupted after Ukraine renamed its Special Operations Forces unit "North" to "UPA Heroes" in May, a move Kyiv said was intended to restore historical traditions of the national army. However, the decision sparked outrage across Poland's political spectrum.

While the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is revered in Ukraine for its role in fighting for independence, Poland associates it with the Volhynia massacre of 1943–1945, when UPA killed an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 Polish civilians. Retaliatory attacks and subsequent partisan warfare also resulted in the deaths of several thousand Ukrainians, and by 1947 violence had claimed about 20,000 more Ukrainian lives.

Tensions further escalated after Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sybiha emphasized that the naming of the unit has no anti-Polish connotation and urged partners to respect Ukraine's history and independence.