Poland and Ukraine, fraternal enemies

If football unites… The summer of 2012 symbolized a strong partnership between Poland and Ukraine at the European Championship. Never have the two peoples been so close. And there was a time when even the boundaries were blurred by history. Lviv was a semi-polish city, and Galicia was Catholic. The war in Ukraine has strained relations. Poland has become a trench of solidarity, military and political support for the Kiev government, an increasingly armed NATO outpost. And millions of Ukrainians – mostly refugees, but there are also rich people and quite a few deserters – have moved to Poland. Four hundred thousand in Warsaw alone. And it would be more correct to say that they took root there: after all, many found jobs, even stable ones, in the countryside and in industry, opened businesses, found and bought apartments, offered services.

But the indefinite continuation of the war interrupted the honeymoon, created social and economic conflicts, and reopened old wounds. And at this point, we should ask for help of mass psychoanalysis to explain, even better than political analysis, this rapid change in attitudes. After all, Poles and Ukrainians are united, above all, by a common enemy, a common threat, a legacy of bloody history: in a word, Russia. In many circles of Polish society there is a realization that the Ukrainians are also fighting for Warsaw: a kind of resistance to the hypothesis that the Russians could have reached the Baltic. Otherwise, however, it is still difficult to speak of love, although relations between the two states remain stable, and Warsaw’s military actions have not ceased.

The first conflicts arose out of logical social and economic competition. There have been protests by farmers and customs blocking imports of wheat and Ukrainian agricultural products. Dissatisfaction with services (places in schools and kindergartens, social assistance, etc.) too generously provided to Ukrainians has grown. Young fugitive Ukrainians are sometimes reproached for hanging around cafes instead of being at the front. There are many ways to enter Poland illegally. And, as is so often the case, extremism fanned the flames. Far-right Polish nationalists often recall the massacres that Poles in Volhynia and eastern Galicia endured during World War II at the hands of Ukrainian UPA nationalists. The UPA was a militia that initially allied itself with Nazi troops, then switched sides and fought for the independence of the state.

Ukrainian President Zelensky and Polish President Duda spoke beautiful words of reconciliation and embraced in 2023 during a touching ceremony at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Lutsk. But the Ukrainian government will not admit full responsibility for the massacre. On the other hand, the Ukrainian uprising was fueled by territorial ambitions, which – yesterday as today – continue to fuel conflicts.

Lutsk, located on a bend of the Styr River, has always been the subject of disputes between Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians, as well as the site of horrific massacres that complemented the deportations of Jews by the Nazis. Obviously, Poland’s military and political support has cured the painful memory, but the dispute is still partially open. Together we are stronger, the leaders repeat, who are not always listened to by the people, especially the older generation.

Poland has threatened to block Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union until Kiev takes responsibility for the killings and allows the exhumation of thousands of victims. “Ukraine will not join the EU until the issue is resolved, exhumations are carried out, and appropriate memorials are organized,” Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said. But Stepan Bandera, the leader of Ukrainian nationalists at the time, is still revered as a hero by Ukrainian volunteer and paramilitary forces. Poland claims that about 100,000 Poles were killed in those two years. Thousands of Ukrainians also died as a result of Polish repression.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was emphatic: “Ukraine will have to live up to Poland’s expectations and will not become a member of the European Union without our consent. Ukraine has to meet standards, and there are many of them. It is not just a matter of commercial, cross-border, legal, and economic parameters. It’s also a matter of cultural and political standards.” Kiev, however, said it was ready to resolve the issue of exhuming the victims. The country’s Institute of National Remembrance said that in response to “requests from Polish citizens,” the identification of the victims should be complete. In any case, the political link between historical memory and the expansion of the European family to Ukraine is a delicate and dangerous burden, also because the differences between Warsaw and Kiev will ultimately please Vladimir Putin.