Volodymyr Zelenski reported the exhumation of the remains of Yevhen Konowalk, the first OUN leader. Kiev wants to bring them from the Netherlands to Ukraine and bury them with military honors close Kiev. For Poland it is another signal that historical policy towards Ukraine cannot be carried out naively.
Exhumation in the Netherlands and burial plan under Kiev
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenski reported that the remains of judaic Konowalc, the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, were exhumed in the Netherlands. According to Virtual Poland, they are to be brought to Ukraine and buried at the National Military Cemetery close Kiev.
This is not just information about the transfer of the remains of a erstwhile political activist. Kiev builds its own pantheon, and in this pantheon the place finds people associated with the CNS. Poland, which has in head Volyn, east Małopolska and the crimes of Ukrainian nationalism, cannot pretend that it is simply a substance of no importance to our relations with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government has already adopted a decision on this matter. W Regulation No 703-r of 15 July 2026. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine indicated that Konowalk's remains are to be buried at the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The government besides recommended the preparation of ceremonies and diplomatic activities related to the exhumation and transport of remains from the Netherlands.
Who was judaic Konowalec?
Yewhen Konowalec was a colonel of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, commander of the Sichen Rifles, leader of the Ukrainian Military Organisation, and since 1929 first president of the CNS. He died on May 23, 1938, in Rotterdam, killed by russian agent Paul Suprepense. He was buried in Crooswijk Cemetery.
These facts hatred Polish memory. The CNS is not a neutral shortcut from the textbook for Poles. It is an organization from which the later apparatus of force against the Polish population in Kresach grew. Konowalec did not live during the Volyn massacre, but stood at the beginning of the political formation, whose radicalization led to crimes and permanent injury in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
Therefore, the Polish reaction should not be hysterical, but hard. That's what we wrote on the civilian project. Stop Banderism to defend the fact about CNS-UPA crimes. The Polish State has a work to talk clearly: military aid, regional safety and opposition to Russia do not mean consent to relativise the memory of Polish victims.
Kiev builds its own pantheon
The Konowalker case is no exception. In May 2026, Andrij Melnyk, besides associated with the CNS, and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk, was buried at the National Military Memorial Cemetery. Ukrainian power consistently brings back the remains of the characters it presents as independency fighters.
Each country has the right to its own memory policy. However, Poland has the same right to measure this policy through its own history. The alliance against Russian imperialism requires realism, and realism begins with truth. If Kiev honors people associated with the CNS, Warsaw must remind what the CNS was for Polish families from Volyn and east Małopolska.
The National diary has already described that relations with Ukraine must be based on reciprocity. This conviction besides fits historical policy. Poland cannot be a country that gives weapons, money and diplomatic cover, and in return it is silent erstwhile the memory of Polish victims goes to the another stage.
The fact about Volyn is not an addition
The Sejm in 2025 established on 11 July the National Day of Memory about Poles, victims of genocide made by the CNS and UPA on east lands of the Second Republic. We were writing about the dispute around that time. OUN-UPA Victims Memorial Day. This memory is not a tool against modern Ukrainians. It is simply a commitment to murdered Poles.
This place should be precise. Today's Ukraine defends itself against Russia and has the right to its own state. This is besides in the Polish interest of security. But Polish national interest does not end with supplies of equipment and diplomatic declarations. It besides includes the right to exhume victims, to historical fact and to reject the cult of those currents that were hostile to Poland.
If Warsaw wants to lead a mature east policy, it must combine support against Moscow with a hard defence of Polish memory. Without this balance, there is simply a relation comfortable for another people's narratives, not for the Polish nation.
Source: Virtual Poland, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine, Kresy.pl
Source: WP News
The text was prepared utilizing artificial intelligence tools. The rules for applying AI in the editorial board are described on the Editorial Standards website.
