Tusk calls Lviv Regional Council`s UPA resolution “suicidal tactics”

Tusk made the remarks during a briefing in Warsaw on Wednesday, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

“This is unwise. It harms Ukraine. Of course, it always greatly irritates us, and in Poland we do not understand such actions, especially since the members of the Lviv Regional Council are acting primarily against Ukraine’s own interests,” Tusk said.

He noted that he had previously discussed the issue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and warned that such gestures made it harder for those in Poland who advocated the closest possible cooperation between the two countries.

“In situations like this, the Russians are always rubbing their hands,” the Polish prime minister stressed.

Tusk urged Ukrainian partners who recognize the importance of good relations and allied cooperation between the two countries to prevent similar situations from arising.

“It is your responsibility to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen. Such demonstrations harm Ukraine alone and greatly help everyone who wishes Ukraine ill,” he said.

According to Tusk, the Lviv Regional Council’s decision could give opponents of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union another argument against its membership.

“If opponents of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, for example, look for a pretext, then the members of the Lviv Regional Council have just manufactured one. To say that I simply cannot understand such suicidal tactics would be an understatement,” the Polish prime minister said.

He also said that he and President Zelensky had made considerable efforts to overcome the so-called “orders crisis” in Polish-Ukrainian relations, adding that the Lviv Regional Council’s actions, in his view, were undoing that work.

“Let me repeat: this is not a problem for us. These actions are a problem for Ukraine,” Tusk concluded.

The Lviv Regional Council’s decision, which made headlines in Polish media on Wednesday morning, was also criticized by officials from the Polish president’s office and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Rafał Leśkiewicz, spokesperson for the Polish president, expressed outrage over the decision in an interview with Radio ZET, saying the decision “smacks of Russian provocation.” He added that Ukrainian intelligence services should investigate the circumstances surrounding the decision, which he said played into Moscow’s hands.

Meanwhile, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said in an interview with TVN24 that Poland had received assurances from representatives of President Zelensky’s circle that the Lviv Regional Council’s decision to declare 2027 the Year of Roman Shukhevych would not take effect.

“We are relying on assurances from President Zelensky’s Office that this extremely ill-advised decision will not take effect,” Bosacki stressed.

As previously reported, on October 20, the Lviv Regional Council declared 2027 the Year of Roman Shukhevych, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and Oleh Olzhych.

A few days earlier, President Zelensky said that relations with Poland had improved.

Earlier, Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. This followed Zelensky’s decision on May 27 to bestow the honorary title “Named after the Heroes of the UPA” on the Northern Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Poland’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called Poland’s actions a “strategic mistake,” stressing that Kyiv would not allow others to dictate its history while expressing hope for the restoration of equal dialogue between the two countries.

On July 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held talks in Lublin.

The Ukrainian president also met with the Polish prime minister during the most recent EU summit in Brussels.

Photo: Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland