The Embassy of Ukraine in Poland stated that the content of Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar's speech at the ceremony commemorating the victims of the Volyn tragedy was distorted. The video widely circulated on social media, where the entire speech allegedly lasts only 16 seconds, was called fake and taken out of context. This is reported by UNN with reference to the diplomatic mission's statement on Facebook.
Social media users actively distributed a short excerpt from the Telewizja Republika channel, in which the diplomat only says: "Thank you very much. Glory to the memory of the victims of the Volyn crime and thank you for your attention. Goodbye." Commentators called this speech "record-breakingly concise" and hinted at an alleged unwillingness to talk about difficult pages of the past.
However, the Ukrainian embassy emphasized that this is only a fragment cut from the full speech.
"The media have already corrected false claims regarding the duration of this speech. The ambassador himself drew attention to them in his post on the X platform (formerly Twitter), including relevant information. On Monday, July 14, the full recording of the speech was broadcast by Telewizja Republika, which filmed the event on site," the embassy wrote.
In his post, Bodnar thanked for the opportunity to speak, called the event important for shared memory, and called for building the future on the basis of historical truth.
The embassy referred to an independent fact-check conducted by the Polish portal Konkret24, which confirmed that the video that gained popularity online was edited and does not reflect the real content of the speech.
Context
The events in Volyn in 1941–1943 remain a complex issue in Ukrainian-Polish relations. In Ukraine, they are called the "Volyn tragedy," while in Poland, the term "Volyn massacre" is more often used.
In the past, Polish officials even stated that resolving historical disputes would be a condition for Ukraine's accession to the EU. At the same time, in recent months, a constructive dialogue has taken place between Kyiv and Warsaw, including an agreement on conducting the first exhumations of the remains of Polish victims of the tragedy in Ukraine in several years.