Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on its territory, Ukraine has been pushing to join the European Union. Poland has so far resisted this desire.
Pawel Jablonski, the Undersecretary of State in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicated according to The Kyiv Independent that Ukraine “cannot dream” of “joining the European Union” without resolving the issue regarding the exhumation of the remains of the victims of the Volhynia massacre on Ukrainian territory. “In my opinion, Ukraine cannot dream of joining the European Union without solving this issue – and many Ukrainians are already aware of this,” said the official of the outgoing Polish government in an interview with Radio ZET.
“That is why we will definitely emphasize that there will be no long-term reconciliation with Ukraine without a solution to this issue,” said the Polish official. When directly asked whether the issue of exhumations is a condition for Warsaw’s support for Kyiv’s EU accession, Jablonski replied that he did “not like to speak of conditions,” but added that cooperation without resolving the problem would be difficult.
Image: President.gov.ua, Робоча поїздка Президента України на Запоріжжя 70, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Image size changed)