Russian Propaganda Played a Role: Expert Explains Why Poland Reacts So Strongly to the UPA

Polish public official Piotr Kulpa argues that while Poles know a great deal about the UPA's actions against Poles, they know very little about its cooperation with Poles against the NKVD—a gap he attributes to Russian propaganda, Politeka reports.

He shared these views on Valerii Savchuk's author program Different People.

"I believe this narrative can be challenged because it is simply false. The picture that politicians are trying to create is inaccurate. Why? In Poland, there is broad consensus—something that unites Poles—in the belief that the UPA was an organization exclusively engaged in killing Poles. But that is a misconception, because within the UPA there were people and developments that had nothing to do with Poland and that also deserve respect from the Polish side. Yet no one has ever conveyed this to the Polish public," Kulpa explained.

He recalled that in 1946—three years after the Volhynia tragedy—the UPA and the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) reached an agreement in Hrubieszów to carry out a joint operation against the NKVD and free prisoners. According to the program's guest, they acted together and were able to reach an understanding with one another—a historical fact that no one disputes.

Nevertheless, Kulpa emphasized that Russian propaganda also played a role in shaping public opinion on the issue. According to him, part of this campaign was carried out by Ukrainians themselves, as it was much easier for Russia to pay pro-Russian Ukrainians to spread the message in Poland that the UPA was nothing but a criminal organization. Today, he noted, many of those individuals live in Moscow.

"The problem is that there is no symmetry here. Poles do not want to acknowledge that crimes of a similar nature were also committed against the Ukrainian population, even if they were not carried out on the same scale. One can also point to villages where Poles killed women, children, and the elderly. This is a painful truth that Poland still finds difficult to accept," Kulpa concluded.

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