Kiev (EFE).- The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, honored today in the city of Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, the victims of the Volhynia massacre committed 80 years ago by nationalist insurgents Ukrainians and cost the lives of tens of thousands of ethnic Polish civilians.
“Together we honor all the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us! Together we are stronger!” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram account, in which he posts photos with the Polish president, including in the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles in Lutsk, in the Volhynia region.
The same words can be read on the Polish side in a statement stating that both presidents participated in an ecumenical service in the cathedral, after which they jointly deposited candles before the altar.
The visit of Zelenski and Duda had not been announced in advance, but last night the city council blocked traffic in the streets of the old town, where the church is located, on the occasion of the events in memory of the victims of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia massacre, reported the local chain Suspilne.
At the beginning of July, the Polish Deputy Minister of the Interior, Maciej Wasik, insisted on the need for Ukraine to accept “exhumations and appropriate trials” related to the Volhynia massacre, an issue that he described as a “thorn” in bilateral relations between the two countries.
He assured that Poland “will be firm on this matter” and will demand “serious corrections of historical errors” from kyiv.