An influential Ukrainian military officer has delivered a warning that risks pushing already strained relations with Poland into dangerous territory. Chief Sergeant Yury Syrotyuk (of the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the 5th Separate Assault Kyiv Brigade) recently delivered an interview on the topic of “Poland and Ukraine”: he accused Warsaw (in a segment from roughly 36:00 to 36:50 in the video) of waging a historical war over narratives involving the Volhynia massacres. He then bluntly suggested that the dispute could escalate into a military confrontation – in which case Kyiv would deploy drones against Polish cities, killing civilians. And he advised Warsaw not to cross that line.

This violent rhetoric came days after Syrotyuk shared a video on Facebook in which he described himself as the grandson and nephew of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) veterans “who defended their homes from all the occupiers in Volhynia,” a clear reference to the mass killings of Poles there. He also accused the Polish authorities in Warsaw of seeking regional hegemony and conspiring with Moscow to partition Ukraine (a claim that has no factual basis).

This episode in fact fits into a broader pattern of rising Ukrainian-Polish friction. As I recently wrote, Polish President Karol Nawrocki even revoked the Order of the White Eagle (the country’s highest honor) from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, This was after Kyiv’s decision to rebury Nazi collaborator Andriy Melnyk with state honors – and to........

© Blitz