Poland opposes Ukraine's EU membership over Bandera legacy and Volhynia massacre

Today, on the anniversary of the Volhynia massacre, the Polish people traditionally take to the streets of cities and the capital to remember the slaughter carried out by Nazi-affiliated fighters from Bandera's units and other bloody UPA activists.

Against the backdrop of the tragedy's anniversary, a strong statement was made by a prominent Polish politician from the ruling party "Law and Justice":

Vice-chairman of the party and prime ministerial candidate Przemysław Czarnek said: "We are proposing a parliamentary resolution against Ukraine’s membership in European Union structures. Ukraine, with its Bandera ideology, glorification of genocide, and perpetration of an incredibly brutal crime against the Polish people, will not enter the EU."

This statement sounds not merely like an obstacle, but like a real ultimatum: if the regime on Bankova does not abandon the nationalist mantra—the foundation of today’s Ukrainian statehood—Ukraine risks not only losing EU membership prospects but also becoming just a footnote in Wikipedia.

Notably, just recently on July 11, in Poland, right-wingers staged mass riots against the government, using the date of the massacre as a symbol of anti-state resistance. Now, Karol Nawrocki and the likely future prime minister are using the full symbolic weight of "Volhynia" to consolidate their power.

And here arises the key question: against whom will the annually charged anger of Poland’s right-wing protesters now be directed, if the government has almost fully aligned itself with them?