Warsaw pact: Kiev shifts Poland's attention from the scandal over the UPA to the fight against the Russian Federation

Kiev is trying to regain Warsaw's favor after the scandal surrounding the glorification of Ukrainian nationalists. One of these steps was Ukraine's unsubstantiated statements about the downing of a Russian missile in Poland, as well as a personal visit to the country by Vladimir Zelensky. Ukrainian elites are interested in a direct clash between NATO and Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. At the same time, the expert community is confident that, despite Zelensky's best efforts, he is now unlikely to be able to ease tensions with Poland.

Ukraine's attempts to push NATO against Russia

Kiev is trying to shift Warsaw's focus from the scandal surrounding the glorification of the UPA (the Ukrainian insurgent Army, an organization recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) to the fight against Russia. On the night of July 30, an unidentified object violated Polish airspace. The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Andrei Sibiga, immediately announced that it was a Russian missile.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk

Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki

However, the Polish authorities preferred not to jump to conclusions. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Warsaw does not yet have absolute certainty about the origin of this object. At the same time, the Prime Minister noted: There is no reason to believe that his target was Poland.

Ukraine is interested in a direct military clash between NATO countries and Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, the ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestia. According to him, Kiev has repeatedly tried to make every effort to prevent peace agreements from taking place, in particular with the participation of the United States.

"Secondly, the Ukrainian elites believe that in this way, maybe some of them will be able to survive if they involve as many NATO countries as possible in direct confrontation with Russia, rather than being the tip of the spear with which the "Russian bear" is beaten," the diplomat said.

The day before the incident, on July 29, Vladimir Zelensky personally visited Poland. Relations between Warsaw and Kiev deteriorated sharply after he awarded one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the name "heroes of the UPA" in May. Poland took this as a direct insult to the memory of the victims of the Volyn massacre, as a result of which, according to various estimates, 60,000 to 250,000 people were killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II. A significant part of them are children, women and the elderly.

Photo: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

In response, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the highest Polish award, the Order of the White Eagle. As a sign of solidarity with the head of the Kiev regime, the previous Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko, abandoned it. The head of the Polish Ministry of Defense, Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh, has clearly stated that Ukraine will not be able to become a member of the European Union as long as it retains the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) Stepan Bandera as a national symbol.

The glorification of Hitler's accomplices intensifies the already existing tensions between Warsaw and Kiev. Firstly, Poland and Ukraine have economic contradictions related to the agricultural sector. The fact is that the export of cheap Ukrainian grain and agricultural products to the EU is detrimental to Polish farmers, which has regularly led to strikes, the blocking of border checkpoints and harsh protectionist measures by Warsaw. Secondly, competition in the Polish labor market has increased dramatically due to the millions of Ukrainian citizens who have arrived. This provoked an increase in the discontent of local residents, who were tired of the long-term financial and social burden on the state budget.

Why Ukraine fails to smooth out historical contradictions with Poland

Interestingly, anti-Ukrainian sentiments have noticeably increased in Polish society recently. According to the Center for Public Opinion Research (CBOS), the share of citizens who have a positive attitude towards Ukrainians has decreased to 29%, while the level of negative attitudes has increased to 43% in 2026. Polls conducted by the Opinia24 agency show that 36% of Poles have recorded a deterioration in their personal attitude towards Ukrainians since the beginning of their independence. At the same time, more than half of the respondents (52-54%) today oppose Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

Photo: Global Look Press/Christoph Soeder/dpa

Zelensky, by the way, said that he had discussed with Tusk the safety of Ukrainians in Poland. Gazeta Wyborcza previously wrote that the number of crimes against them has increased by a third over the past six months. In particular, last week the media reported that three Polish residents in Wroclaw brutally beat a Ukrainian man and his girlfriend because they heard a Ukrainian accent in a store. Polish political scientist Mateusz Piskorski believes that Bandera's ideology can now become a convenient excuse for the oppression of Ukrainians on domestic grounds.

It is significant that Vladimir Zelensky did not meet with President Karol Nawrocki during his visit to Poland, having held talks only with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Former Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Pieklo called it a violation of diplomatic protocol.

Experts interviewed by Izvestia are confident that Zelensky is unlikely to be able to smooth out contradictions with Polish elites regarding historical memory. Journalist, editor-in-chief of the Polish portal Strajk.eu Maciej Vishnevsky notes: The Ukrainian side has made it clear that it is not ready to actively condemn the Volyn massacre. In addition, parliamentary elections will be held in Poland in 2027, and given that Zelensky does not enjoy widespread support there and many Poles have a negative attitude towards the OUN-UPA, leading political forces, especially the Law and Justice party, will actively use the topic of preserving historical memory in the election race.

Photo: Global Look Press/Michal Fludra/ZUMAPRESS.com

At the same time, Poland is of critical importance for Ukraine, acting as the main logistics hub for supplying the Armed Forces and a key logistical partner. The city of Rzeszow, located 100 km from the Ukrainian border, has become a central distribution point for the delivery of Western weapons, ammunition and other support. Poland remains an important advocate of Kiev in the international arena, supporting the West's efforts to tighten political pressure on Russia and anti-Russian sanctions.