Polish president Andrzej Duda made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Sunday. The Polish leader's journey is connected with the 80th anniversary of the Volyn massacre.
On Sunday morning, identical entries were published on the twitter accounts of the Chancellery of the president of Poland and president Volodymyr Zelenski, in which politicians wrote: "Together we pay tribute to all innocent victims of Volyn! We have a connection. We're stronger together."
The leaders took part in the Holy Mass in the intention of the murdered Poles, in the Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Lutsk. The celebrations were presided over by Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbocas, an apostolic nuncio in Ukraine.
Before the mass of the Presidents of Poland and Ukraine: Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenski paid tribute to the victims of the Volyn massacre, putting burning candles before commemorating them with symbolic crosses, placed before the altar of the main temple.
Pilgrimage "Forgive and Reconciliation" on Volyn
Mass in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Lutsk was the last step of the pilgrimage of forgiveness and reconciliation with which they departed from Warsaw on 7 July Archbishop Szewczuk, Archbishop Gądecki and Bishop Skomarowski. On Saturday Archbishop Gądecki and Bishop Skomarowski celebrated Mass in Parosla First – the place of the first mass execution of the Volyn massacre.
Earlier, on 7 July, Archbishop Gądecki and Archbishop Szewczuk signed a message on the 80th anniversary of the Volyn massacre in Warsaw.
Volyn massacre
On 11 July 1943, the alleged bloody Sunday took place in Volyn, erstwhile UPA troops attacked many Polish villages simultaneously. The genocide committed in Poles by Ukrainian nationalists is 1 of the most tragic cards in our history.
The actions against the Polish population were planned in detail, carried out according to top-down orders. The first 1 sounded to execution only men aged 16 to 60, but no 1 observed it from the beginning. Subsequent directives referred to the elimination of the full Polish component regardless of sex and age.
As of January 1943, attacks on individuals and villages began, mainly in western Ukraine. The request to leave Ukraine in 1 day was warned and, in the event of failure to comply, the full household was threatened with death. Since April 1943, mass attacks on Polish villages and colonies throughout Volyn began.
