Wroclaw Council Condemns Lviv's 'Year of UPA' and Urges Reversal

The city council of Poland's Wroclaw unanimously condemned a decision by deputies of the Lviv regional council who declared 2027 the year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, according to European Pravda, citing Radio Wroclaw.

At Thursday's session the council condemned what it called the “glorification of a formation responsible for the genocide of Poles.” The Law and Justice faction also submitted a draft appeal demanding that Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and the Lviv city council formally distance themselves from the regional council's resolution.

“We have the right to expect, and the right to call on, first, the Lviv regional council to revoke the resolutions proclaiming 2027 the Year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Year of Roman Shukhevych. We also have the right to turn to the mayor of Lviv and the city council, as the authorities of Wroclaw's partner city, asking them to take an unequivocal stance,” said Law and Justice politician Lukasz Kasztelewicz.

Support from the left, with a warning

Bartlomiej Ciazynski of the New Left backed the appeal to Lviv's city authorities, saying the resolution harms Polish-Ukrainian relations. “I am deeply convinced that nobody harms Ukrainians living in, say, Wroclaw as much as their own authorities in Ukraine. We consider this unacceptable,” he said.

Another New Left representative, Dominik Klosowski, suggested considering an end to Wroclaw's partnership with Lviv if the city authorities there do not respond. “The victims call not for revenge, but for memory,” he said.

On October 20, the Lviv regional council voted to declare 2027 the “Year of Roman Shukhevych, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Oleh Olzhych.” The decision immediately drew criticism from Polish authorities, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk.