Warsaw, 21 October. Poland has suspended the dispatch of a large military aid package to Ukraine over a decision by deputies of the Lviv Regional Council to declare 2027 the year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its commander-in-chief Roman Shukhevych, European Pravda and RBC-Ukraine report, citing government sources.
The regional council voted on 20 October; the same decision also names Oleh Olzhych, a figure of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists. The initiative, timed to anniversaries linked to Shukhevych, Olzhych and the UPA, was put forward by council member Sviatoslav Sheremeta. According to European Pravda's source in the Ukrainian government, the decision was taken just as Poland was preparing to hand over a significant aid package. Work is now under way through closed channels to settle a problem that, according to the outlets, "came out of nowhere". TV channel TSN and RBC-Ukraine, cited by TASS, already write not of a suspension but of the cancellation of the transfer. What the package contains and how large it is has not been disclosed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the decision unwise, harmful to Ukraine itself and a "suicidal tactic"; he said he and Volodymyr Zelensky had made considerable efforts to restore relations after a dispute over naming one of Ukraine's army brigades after the UPA. Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the decision unacceptable, saying it does not build trust between the two nations but deepens divisions. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called Shukhevych a UPA commander who gave orders to expel and kill Poles. The mayor of Przemyśl, Wojciech Bakun, urged the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, to distance himself from the council's decision.
Kyiv distanced itself from the decision. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called it counterproductive for Ukrainian-Polish relations and stressed that the regional council had consulted neither diplomats nor the central authorities. According to Poland's deputy foreign minister, the Ukrainian side assured Warsaw that the council's decision would not be implemented. After Tusk's statement, the Lviv Regional Council removed its publication about celebrating the year of the UPA.
What it means: A regional council decision in Lviv on a commemorative year has held up Polish military aid to Ukraine. Kyiv has disowned the decision, the council has removed its publication, and whether the package goes ahead now depends on the outcome of talks through closed channels.
Who benefits: The sources do not name anyone who benefits. The delay affects first of all the Ukrainian army, for which the package was intended; Tusk, as Nasha Niva writes, said such steps help Ukraine's enemies.
Background: That same morning the Polish side had said it could not give Ukraine Patriot missiles because Poland itself was short of them. Disputes over the memory of the UPA have flared between the two countries before: Tusk recalled the recent row over the name of a Ukrainian army brigade.
List of sources used: RBC, SFG Media, Nasha Niva, TASS, 112.ua
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
