Poland may block Ukraine's integration into EU due to unresolved historical issues - Vice PM

Ukraine will not join the EU until the problem of the Volyn tragedy is resolved.

That’s according to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamys, Ukrinform reports, referring to Polsat News.

As the leader of the coalition’s PSL party noted, Poland supports Ukraine as much as it can, but not everything is perfect in Polish-Ukrainian relations, given the unresolved historical issues. According to him, real politics requires "putting forward an ultimatum."

"Ukraine will not join the EU if the Volyn case is not resolved," said the Polish vice-prime minister.

He went on to claim that for Poland, the end of the war means victory for Ukraine, and all other options imply "an immediate threat of war for Poland."

Previously, the leader of the Polish party Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski linked the integration of Ukraine to the EU with the solution of historical problems in bilateral relations.

The topic of the Volyn tragedy is one of the most controversial ones in Ukrainian-Polish relations. The views maintained by Kyiv and Warsaw on the causes, responsibility, and number of victims on both sides are somewhat different. The Polish side insists that the Ukrainian side bears the sole responsibility for the crimes committed in Volyn in 1943-1945, while the Ukrainian side, on the other hand, insists that both sides are responsible, and that the apology should be mutual.

The topic of the Volyn tragedy has been actively exploited by Russian propaganda in the past years, including now, to try to pit the two nations against each other.