Poland and Ukraine to mutually monitor historical sites

At a meeting in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin discussed recent vandalism attacks at Polish WWII monuments in western Ukraine, calling them “political provocations”.

“We decided that together we will try to address these issues, and possibly work together to develop a monitoring system,” Waszczykowski said.

The ministers also discussed the continuing Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.

Waszczykowski said that Poland supports Ukraine's European aspirations, and called on Russia to cease aggression in the country.

He said that while both the “Normandy format and the Minsk protocol helped hold off major Russian military intervention in the region, they did not result in a stable peace solution in Ukraine”.

“Sooner or later, we will consider the need for a new format with the participation of the US,” Waszczykowski said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Polish-Ukrainian Partnership Forum on Wednesday, Waszczykowski said that the Forum – which brings together scientists, representatives of think tanks, analysts and former diplomats – will expand, enrich relationships by creating new initiatives, as well as new opportunities for Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.

A vandalism attack on the Huta Pieniacka memorial over the weekend was the latest in a string of such incidents in western Ukraine. Unknown perpetrators also splashed red paint on monuments at a site in Lviv, western Ukraine, dedicated to the victims of the 1941 massacre of Lwów professors by Nazi German troops.

In a separate incident in January, another site at the Bykivnia cemetery in western Ukraine was painted over by vandals. All three sites are dedicated to the memory of Poles who were killed in WWII.

(rg/pk)