The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) expresses serious concern over the resolutions passed on 7 July 2016 in the Senate and on 22 July 2016 in the Sejm of Poland on the tragic events which occurred in Volyn during the Second World War.
In calling for national remembrance of the victims of the Volyn tragedy, the resolutions referred to the events which occurred in that region as genocide. The UWC affirms that these events, the result of Polish-Ukrainian conflict, do not meet either the historic or legal criteria of genocide, and that the use of such terminology will only serve to escalate tensions between the two nations at a very critical period in history which will be fully exploited by the Russian Federation.
The only path to reconciliation and unity for the Polish and Ukrainian peoples is through a better understanding of the past and mutual forgiveness for historical wrongs. The UWC, therefore, urges historians from both Ukraine and Poland to continue a professional dialogue with the goal of uncovering further details on the circumstances of their nations’ common history on the basis of the currently accessible archival materials.
“The Ukrainian World Congress calls for the resolution of historical issues between Poland and Ukraine through education and reconciliation, and urges the Polish people to continue supporting the Ukrainian people in their difficult struggle to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and to stop Russian aggression from moving further West,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
