Vinnytsia has withdrawn its request for buses from Kielce amid a historic scandal
Vinnytsia has decided to withdraw its request for buses from its Polish sister city, Kielce. The decision was made amid a public debate and an information campaign that has unfolded around the topics of shared history and street names.
The mayor noted that in recent days, Vinnytsia’s request for assistance had been surrounded by many lies, manipulations, and “plain human meanness,” and announced that Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morhunov had decided to withdraw the request for the transfer of buses.
“He did this not because his city’s needs suddenly disappeared. War remains a daily reality there, and Vinnytsia’s residents continue to face its consequences. He did this because he did not want the issue of aid to a city living under wartime conditions to become a tool of political dispute and a cause of further divisions. This is a gesture that deserves respect,” Voida stated.
Wojda also noted that despite this situation, the mayor of Vinnytsia once again expressed his gratitude to the residents of Kielce for the years of support, assistance, and solidarity shown toward Ukraine and its people.
Vinnytsia, which has been partnered with the city of Kielce for nearly 70 years, requested assistance in the form of 15 buses out of 40 vehicles that the Polish city is taking out of service due to their age, technical condition, and mileage. According to Voida, these are buses that are nearly 20 years old and will no longer carry passengers in Kielce. If they had not been donated to Vinnytsia, they would most likely have been sold for parts or scrapped.
“In Vinnytsia, public transportation relies primarily on trams and trolleybuses. In the event of power outages, they cannot serve residents, which causes transportation chaos. It is precisely in such situations that the decommissioned buses from Kielce were supposed to help,” explained the mayor of the Polish city.
However, according to her, this fact was deliberately ignored by some local council members—and as a result of their actions, a wave of hatred and contempt swept across social media.
“Hundreds of posts filled with insults, accusations, and aggression. This space for public discussion was created by those who today speak the loudest about caring for Kielce. Yesterday, the city council chairman went even further. He publicly accused the city of fraud and insinuated that the buses had been burned or dismantled for parts. This is not just untrue. It is baseless slander. “The buses are on the carrier’s premises, and the acceptance procedure is currently underway,” Voida stated.
She emphasized that this situation has become a test of integrity and solidarity, which the city has demonstrated for many years by purchasing new buses with European funds.
According to Slawa, city council members Maciej Jakubczyk and Marcin Stempniewski, a member of the Law and Justice party, were among those who opposed the transfer of the buses.
In particular, Jakubczyk questioned the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the vehicles. He called the whole situation “a sham” and noted that the timing of the transfer “was inappropriate,” and that the transfer itself “would have worsened the already tense Polish-Ukrainian relations.”
“It was in Vinnytsia that one of the streets was renamed Stepan Bandera Street. And it was precisely this street that one of the 15 buses from Kielce, which were planned to be transferred to the city free of charge, would have traveled down,” Jakubczyk stated.
Marcin Stempniewski, a representative of the Law and Justice party, stated that the decision to transfer the buses would be “incomprehensible” given the current political situation, where “every time we extend a helping hand to our neighbor, it is met with a blow in the form of honoring war criminals.”
“If the buses cannot run on the streets of Kielce, then they should be sold, and the money spent on the needs of the city’s residents, of which there is no shortage,” the city council member emphasized.
Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced private consultations with Ukraine regarding the possible naming of one of the Special Operations Forces units “Heroes of the UPA.” According to him, this issue is being discussed in a diplomatic format.
Warsaw has reacted to the decision to rename the Ukrainian military unit. This concerns an elite unit of the Special Operations Forces, which, according to reports, was named in honor of the Heroes of the UPA. This sparked a critical reaction in Polish society and political circles.
