Polish MPs honour victims of WWII-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists

Polish lawmakers on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution honouring the victims of World War II-era massacres carried out by Ukrainian nationalists in the former eastern territories of prewar Poland.

The lower house of Poland's parliament, the Sejm, in session in Warsaw on Friday, July 17, 2026.

Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara

Poland's lower house of parliament also reaffirmed its support for continued efforts to locate, exhume and properly bury the dead.

The resolution, passed without opposition, pays tribute to civilians killed during what are known as the Volhynia massacres committed from 1943 to 1945 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and other nationalist groups.

Lawmakers described the search for victims' remains, exhumations and "dignified burials" as a humanitarian undertaking that "must not be conditioned by political considerations."

#Sejm jednogłośnie poparł w piątek uchwałę w sprawie uczczenia pamięci ofiar ludobójstwa dokonanego na ziemiach wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich. #Wołyń #UPAhttps://t.co/8vZmwAGUcl pic.twitter.com/XF0KAXKRHJ

— Dzieje.pl (@dziejepl) July 17, 2026

Before approving the resolution, the lower house rejected seven proposed amendments that would have added stronger language condemning Ukraine's current authorities, including accusations of obstructing exhumations, distorting historical truth and glorifying those responsible for the killings.

Presenting the resolution, lawmaker Tadeusz Samborski said it marked the 83rd anniversary of the ethnic violence and honoured the largely civilian victims, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

"The majority of the victims were defenceless residents of towns and villages who were murdered with extraordinary brutality," Samborski told lawmakers.

The resolution also pays tribute to members of the wartime Polish Home Army (AK), Peasants' Battalions and local self-defence groups who sought to protect civilians, as well as Ukrainians who risked their own lives to save their Polish neighbours.

Lawmakers expressed appreciation for historians, archaeologists and others involved in efforts to recover victims' remains and preserve the memory of the massacres.

The resolution also urges politicians, historians and public commentators "not to relativise" what it describes as genocide "or distort historical facts."

At the same time, parliament reaffirmed Poland's commitment to maintaining friendly relations with the Ukrainian people.

Quoting the late Polish-born Pope John Paul II, the resolution says that confronting historical truth should help both nations "place greater value on what unites them rather than what divides them."

The legacy of the Volhynia massacres remains one of the most sensitive issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations.

Poland regards the killings of more than 100,000 Polish civilians in the Volhynia and eastern Galicia regions between 1943 and 1945 as genocide. The regions were part of German-occupied eastern Poland at the time and are now in western Ukraine.

Many Ukrainians, however, view the UPA primarily as a symbol of their country's struggle for independence and resistance to Soviet rule.

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Source: IAR, PAP, dzieje.pl