25/08/2026
One can understand the need to build unity and national identity among the Ukrainian people. And most of us do understand that. But—I’m sorry to say—one cannot put on a pedestal people who are responsible for the genocide of CIVILIANS on the scale perpetrated by those who fought against the Poles. Today, Ukrainians point out that Putin is striking civilian targets, murdering children, women, and the elderly, and Ukraine has no problem calling this what it is. Nor does it have any problem labeling Putin a genocidal perpetrator. A simple question: Can one perpetrator of genocide be better than another? After all, Putin also considers Ukraine to be Russian territory and is “liberating” the land from Ukrainian occupation. Isn’t this just a matter of perspective? So if Putin is a genocidal perpetrator who deliberately murders civilians, then Shukhevych and Klachkivsky are as well. They murdered both Polish and Ukrainian civilians, and the number of Ukrainians killed ranges between 30,000 and 40,000 (some historians lean toward higher figures—close to the number of Poles murdered). I’ll leave Bandera out of this, as he was merely a mastermind. But these two committed crimes by issuing orders and murdering with their own hands. So—the question is—did the people who collaborated with the N***s, who murdered Jews in Lviv, who murdered Polish civilians in Volhynia using torture and all manner of depraved methods of killing, take revenge on Ukrainians who did not support their views and methods—not just alleged traitors…Really? So I will repeat: should people who committed such acts today create the Ukrainian pantheon and represent all Ukrainians around the world? Does Ukraine believe that it is possible to put genocidal perpetrators on a pedestal and force other nations to accept this fact as something obvious and worthy of presenting these figures to the world? Does this behavior not today rebound on the civilian citizens of Ukraine killed by Putin? Since some are unimportant and constitute a path to liberating the country from the yoke of occupation, then cannot others also be treated that way from the point of view of Putin and Russia? Are there no heroes in Ukraine whom no one questions? Who did not commit similar crimes? We all know that there are, for example Makhno. And finally — the genocidal perpetrators who “liberated Ukraine” ideologically strove for a “pure Ukraine,” just as N**i Germany strove to create “pure Germany.” So are we supposed to understand that some answered after WWII for a totalitarian ideology and to this day are still paying for it, while you place people who profess the same ideas in the Pantheon? Then why should we condemn Russia for Stalin’s monuments? Let the Germans start building a pantheon for Hi**er. After all, damn it, this differs from that in no way whatsoever… In no way. What do you not understand? What do you want to convince the world of? That you have the right? You do. But we have the right to protest and not to agree to it. And just as I have supported and helped you for years, I will never agree to the glorification of genocidal perpetrators. And what you do is your problem. You can try to break through walls with your heads. We will see what comes of it in the future…
PS.
And…
In my eyes the greatest heroes of all time in Ukraine are those inhabitants of Volhynia and Podolia who rescued their Polish neighbours from the hands of the torturers and genocidal perpetrators, fully aware that they might pay for their actions with their lives. And they did pay. They were killed just like the Poles. With axes, pitchforks, hammers, knives, shovels, r***d, strangled, burned, drowned… nailed to doorframes, women’s breasts were cut off before death… Historians have counted more than 130 methods of murdering people. Today Ukraine closes its eyes to this genocide and forgets its own victims and their heroism, because emphasising the deeds of these people entails the necessity of admitting that your “heroes” have on their hands the blood of innocent civilians numbering in the tens to hundreds of thousands, including Ukrainians as well, and that does not fit the narrative of “liberation.” But you know what, my dears? We remember those people and their heroism and the sacrifice of their lives, and we will never forget them. Regardless of how mutual relations develop, we will not forget. Because we know history and we know that we were not perfect and we have our own skeletons in the closet, but we are not responsible for the greatest Ukrainian tragedy, which was the “Holodomor,” for example. And it can only be surprising that in the east of your country the same murderous instincts of revenge did not awaken and a slaughter of Russians was not begun… as if different Ukrainians lived in the east? To sum up. The heroes are those who saved lives, not those who took them. But apparently we have a different perception of reality… Thats all
Poland has warned that honoring Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in Ukraine’s National Pantheon could create “huge problems” for Kyiv on its path to EU membership.
Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said Ukraine has the right to choose its national heroes, but argued that honoring figures Poland holds responsible for mass crimes against civilians would seriously damage relations with Warsaw and Europe more broadly.
