Navrotsky's organization referred to western Ukraine as Eastern Lesser Poland
The Office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki, commenting on the Verkhovna Rada’s decision to establish the Ukrainian National Pantheon, used the term “Eastern Lesser Poland” to refer to the western regions of Ukraine and mentioned Stepan Bandera and the UPA.
Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Polish President’s Office, made this chauvinistic statement during a speech in the Sejm. The Polish official called the decision to establish the pantheon a mistake.
Bogucki links this move to the glorification of figures whom Warsaw considers responsible for the tragic events of the past. He is referring to Stepan Bandera and the Volhynia tragedy.
Here is how the official commented on the situation:
“This is legislation of the Ukrainian state, which has the sovereign right to make decisions independently. The only question is whether they are correct. In my opinion—and above all, in the opinion of President Karol Nawrocki, as well as, I believe, the overwhelming majority of Poles, glorifying Bandera and the criminals who committed acts of genocide in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland is not the path to the Western world or to shared European and transatlantic values.”
The official added another pointed statement:
“Neither Poland nor the president will ever agree to this—after all, as he said, ‘we don’t abandon our own.’ The voices of the victims still echo, and the voices of Bandera’s followers cannot drown them out,” writes PAP.
Earlier, Navrotsky met with leaders from Romania and the Baltic states.
As a reminder, the International Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine (URC 2026) begins on Wednesday, June 24, in the Polish city of Gdańsk, bringing together a record number of international delegates and business representatives.
A large-scale international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, URC 2026, will take place in Gdańsk.
