06/24/2026
Polish American Congress Washington DC Division to Ukrainian Americans:
To Join Western Structures, Ukraine Must Adhere to Western Standards, Must Stop Blocking Exhumations and End the Glorification of Genocide Leaders and Holocaust Perpetrators
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Washington D.C. June 9, 2026
Since the first days of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022, Poland has sacrificially supported Ukraine in its defensive struggle to protect its independence, freedom, and territorial integrity.
In the initial days of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022, Poland sent hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces, munitions, and other vital military equipment, which allowed Ukraine to halt the Russian advance.
In 2022, despite painful memories of the 1943 Volhynia genocide of over 100,000 Polish civilian victims by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the people of Poland opened their homes to shelter up to two million Ukrainian refugees. Rather than relying heavily on state-run camps, Polish citizens drove to the border to pick up strangers, taking in an estimated half of all the Ukrainians who fled their country following the Russian invasion.
Standing with Polish Americans, the vast majority of whom are deeply offended and profoundly disappointed by Ukrainian leaders' actions—specifically the denial of full exhumations for Polish victims of genocide and the glorification of historical organizations responsible for mass atrocities—the Polish American Congress Washington Metropolitan Division (PAC WMD) calls on Ukrainian-American counterpart organizations and the broader Ukrainian-American community to communicate to Ukrainian leaders that, to achieve the Ukrainian people's aspiration to join Western structures :
- Ukraine must adhere to Western standards, immediately halt the blockade and allow exhumations of all genocide sites conducted under international oversight, and permit the dignified burial of Polish victims of the 1943 genocide.
- Ukrainian leadership must cease glorifying historical organizations and figures responsible for genocide and the Holocaust.
- Furthermore, increasing media coverage of this glorification and Ukraine's blockade on exhumations of genocide victims directly feeds into Putin’s propaganda—which claims Russia is liberating Ukraine from N**is—thereby severely damaging Ukraine's international standing and support within the United States.
In unity with the Polish people and Polish Americans, the PAC WMD expresses profound disappointment with the Ukrainian leadership for its constant promotion and glorification of the UPA and its historical figures, who were responsible for the atrocious genocide of over one hundred thousand Polish victims in the Volhynia region of prewar Poland in 1943. The UPA was responsible not only for the genocide of Poles but also for murdering Ukrainians who refused to participate in the atrocities or who tried to warn Poles about the planned raids. Importantly the UPA actively collaborated with N**i Germany in the Holocaust.
Therefore, the PAC WMD expresses profound disappointment with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent decision to name one of Ukraine’s military units after the "Heroes of the UPA"—an organization responsible for the genocide of Poles and active participation in the Holocaust.
The PAC WMD fully supports Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to revisit the awarding of the Order of the White Eagle to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Polish American Congress Washington Metropolitan Division
https://pacwashmetrodiv.org/
PAC State Divisions supporting this statement as of June 16th, 2026:
Polish American Congress Washington Metropolitan Division
Florida State Division of Polish American Congress
Michigan State Division of Polish American Congress
Eastern Massachusetts Division of Polish American Congress
New Jersey State Division of Polish American Congress
Long Island Division of Polish American Congress
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