Pro-Russian demonstration in Warsaw demands an end to support of Ukraine
Pro-Russian forces have staged a protest outside the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw, reacting aggressively to activists who turned up with Ukrainian flags.
Source: a Ukrinform correspondent at the scene, European Pravda reports.
Details: Several hundred supporters of various pro-Russian organisations came to the demonstration outside the Ukrainian embassy, holding placards that read "Volhynia – we remember", "This is not our war", "Russia is not our enemy", "Ukraine is not fighting for Poland’s freedom", and "No to EU and NATO membership for Ukraine".
[The Volhynia (Volyn) massacre is a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations involving the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, subordinate to the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists under Stepan Bandera, and the Polish Krajowa Army, with the participation of Polish Schutzmannschaft battalions (auxiliary police of collaborators) presumably Soviet partisans, as well as Ukrainian and Polish civilians in 1943 during World War II in Volyn. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles. – ed.]
The protesters demanded that Poland cease all cooperation with and support of Ukraine "until Banderism in Ukraine is condemned" and say Poland should normalise relations with Russia and Belarus.
The organisers of the action include the Polish Anti-War Movement and the political party Front.
People with Ukrainian flags and a "Stop Ruscism" placard gathered near the embassy at the same time. The pro-Russian demonstrators called them provocateurs and demanded that they leave.
A verbal altercation began. The group of pro-Ukrainian activists was surrounded by a police cordon to prevent a violent confrontation.
Background:
On 9 July, the presidents of Poland and Ukraine, Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made an unannounced visit to Lutsk, where they took part in events commemorating the victims of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia (Volyn) massacre.
Earlier, Duda stated that Ukraine and Poland will hold a number of joint events in July this year to commemorate the victims of the Volhynia (Volyn) massacre.
On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki honoured the memory of the victims of the Volhynia (Volyn) massacre on the territory of the now-abandoned village of Ostrówka in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine.
Read also: Volyn (Volhynia) 1943: The future in labyrinths of the past
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