Shmyhal on resolving historical issues with Poland: we must speak frankly and calmly
Kyiv • UNN
The Prime Minister of Ukraine called for a calm discussion of the common history with Poland. He emphasized the importance of a frank dialogue to avoid manipulation by enemies.
Resolving controversial historical issues with Poland requires a frank, calm, and truthful dialog. It is important to discuss both the victories and the difficult pages of common history in order to avoid manipulation by enemies. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a press conference on the results of the government's work, according to a UNN correspondent.
When asked by a Polish journalist how the Ukrainian government sees the resolution of disputed historical issues between Ukraine and Poland, Shmyhal replied: "Ukraine and Poland are not just neighbors, but true partners. Poland has been supporting Ukraine very actively since the first days of the full-scale invasion. Poland is our great advocate on our European track. We have a common history, in which there are common pages: victorious ones - common victories, we must not forget about this, and we must appreciate this common history of ours - but there are also sad pages that we must speak frankly, truthfully, but calmly. We talked about this with Mr. President Andrzej Duda during his visit to Kyiv, and we are moving along this track. We are moving calmly, and we will continue this movement so that our history is not manipulated by our enemies. That is why we have to open these pages, read and write them together, calmly and very carefully.
The Prime Minister emphasizes that Ukraine has always been very open about historical issues.
"Our Institute of National Remembrance, together with the relevant Polish institutions, is in constant dialogue, we are constantly taking steps towards each other. We would like to resolve this very quickly, and we have had proposals to "exchange everything for everything," to come to an agreement, to resolve it as a single block, and to close this page of our discussions altogether. But our historical institutions have a certain approach, they are moving, and there is some progress on both sides," Shmyhal said.
The prime minister emphasized that resolving historical discussions is not a priority during the war, as attention is now focused on military cooperation with Poland.
Recall
The President of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance called on Ukraine to allow the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy. He emphasized the importance of this issue for future cooperation between the two countries.
