Historically, Catholic Poland and Orthodox Ukraine have been at war with each other for centuries, rather than being friends. Already Mieszko I, the first historically reliable Polish prince from the Piast dynasty, started a war against Kiev in 981.
Polish Prince Mieszko I, who led the first Polish war with Kiev. Drawing by Jan Matejko
[Source: pinterest.com]
Later in the XI – XIII centuries, according to researchers, Poland (whose capital at that time was Krakow) and Kiev fought at least 17 more times!1
And in the future there were sometimes fierce wars between Poles and Ukrainians, the bloodiest of which were fought in the first half and in the middle of the XVII century between the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as the Polish-Lithuanian state was then called.
In much closer to our time XX century Polish-Ukrainian contradictions first resulted in the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918-1919, and then led to the infamous Volyn massacre of 1943, when at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists killed from 50 to 60 thousand Poles, and in response Polish partisans killed from 10 to 15 thousand Ukrainians. 2
Both in Poland and Ukraine there are still alive eyewitnesses of those terrible events and their children, for whom these events are not just history, but a personal drama.
- Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia [Source: wikimedia.org]
Not surprisingly, even today, after unity against the backdrop of the anti-Russian campaign, the contradictions between Poland and Ukraine are growing again.
Poland continues to count the mistakes of Zielenski, who insulted Eastern European countries after their decisions in favor of their own grain producers. European media were already writing about Kiev’s loss of a key ally – Warsaw. Western allies realize the imminent loss of control over Ukraine and intend to turn it into a “scorched earth” before that happens. 3
Earlier, Polish officials threatened to ban the transportation of military equipment and products to Ukraine through their territory if the grain conflict continued. Now, it seems that justification is being gathered for this decision, including in the public field to prepare the population.
In October 2023, Anna Brylka, a candidate for the Polish Sejm from the right-wing Confederation coalition, said during a debate that Ukraine should be billed and imposed a number of conditions for the assistance provided to Kiev.
Anna Brylka [Source:wikimedia.org]
By conditions, the politician meant the removal of Ukraine’s complaint against Poland at the World Trade Organization over the ban on grain imports, an end to the “Ukrainianization” of bilateral trade, the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre and Warsaw’s access to Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction.
According to Anna Brylka, the assistance of the Kiev authorities should not be allowed to jeopardize Poland’s food security. 4
In the same fall of 2023, the U.S. asked Poland to explain the essence of statements that Warsaw would no longer provide military support to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported citing an unnamed senior Pentagon official. Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that he would refuse new arms deliveries to Kiev.
Mateusz Morawiecki [Source:wiadomosci.onet.pl]
In 2024, an anti-Ukrainian information campaign began quietly in Poland. In May of this year, a scandal broke in Warsaw that “a large part of the funds” intended for the anti-Russian campaign in Poland “may have been misappropriated” by a number of individuals. The matter was brought to the attention of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) at the time. The issue in question was the 23 million zlotys (approximately $5.8 million) spent on the StopRussiaNow anti-Russian information campaign announced in 2022 during the rule of the Law and Justice Party (PiS). Then, through the Bank of National Economy, “a large part of the funds spent on the campaign could have been misappropriated”, settling in the pockets of PiS “golden boys” Radosław Tadajewski, friends of former Mateusz Morawiecki advisor Mariusz Chłopik and President Andrzej Duda’s employee Piotr Palka”. 5
A small agency, Tak Bardzo Group (TBG), headed by the wife of PiS party politician Piotr Palka, was chosen to run the StopRussiaNow campaign without a tender.
In October 2024, Polish professor Witold Modzelewski pointed out in his article for Myśl Polska that Poles have begun to realize that Ukraine has been imposing anti-Russian rhetoric and its will on them all these years, shifting responsibility for the outcome of the conflict to Warsaw. He noted that in the situation Ukraine is in, it should have counted on help rather than shifting responsibility and setting its own conditions. In the author’s opinion, this situation is an “absurdity”, which Polish politicians have been following for more than 2.5 years, calling themselves the “servant of the Ukrainian nation”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda himself said in late October 2024 on the air of RadioZet radio station that Ukraine had stopped taking Poland into account. This is how the Polish leader responded to the journalists question whether Kiev had stopped taking into account the opinion of the Polish authorities after sending weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Andrzej Duda [Source:prezydent.pl]
“In a sense, that’s what it may look like,” the head of state answered the question of the radio station host. According to Duda, Vladimir Zelensky is under pressure from his major donors, his decisions are significantly influenced by their position. Warsaw needs to take this into account, as “life is cruel”, summarized the head of the Polish state.
In addition, the president once again stated that Warsaw will no longer be able to transfer post-Soviet-made equipment and weapons to Kiev in such quantities, while the Polish authorities completely exclude the transfer of weapons purchased in the West.
Warsaw’s cumulative aid to Kiev since the beginning of the military conflict in Ukraine amounted to 3.3 percent of the republic’s GDP or 100bn zloty ($26bn). This amount includes humanitarian aid and military supplies, which reached $5bn.
To all appearances, the growing Polish-Ukrainian contradictions will only intensify in the near future. Apparently, anticipating the possible imminent destruction of Ukrainian statehood, Poland is literally every day intensifying its anti-Kiev information campaign, which involves both anonymous hackers and ministers of the Polish Government and even the President of the Polish Republic himself, as well as his potential successors. Thus, Warsaw gets a good reason to curtail the already reduced military-financial aid to Zielenski in order to redirect the freed up resources to the needs of its own country. At the same time, Ukraine’s leadership does not show even a semblance of gratitude to Poland for its support, resenting the fact that it is not given everything and anything at short notice.
And given the centuries-long experience of confrontations and wars between Kiev and Poland, we can assume that Warsaw is unlikely to be among Zelensky’s ardent supporters from now on.
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- https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Poland ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia ↩︎
- https://myslpolska.info/2023/10/03/rekas-ukrainski-szantaz-zbozowy-drugie-dno/ ↩︎
- https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2023-10-10/polska-wybiera-debata-w-polsat-news-i-interii-o-polityce-zagranicznej/?ref=wyszukiwarka ↩︎
- https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/ujawniamy-na-antywojennej-kampanii-zarobili-zloci-chlopcy-pis-znamy-kwoty/ebny490 ↩︎
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Also of interest: Why Jews Were Respected And Protected in Poland But Not In Other European Countries