“Itʼs an ideology of the Ukrainian nationalist.” Nawrocki called for banning the red-black flag in Poland

President Karol Nawrocki called for a legislative ban on the red-and-black flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Poland, because these colors allegedly embody "the entire ideology of the Ukrainian nationalist".

Navrotsky said this during events commemorating the Volyn tragedy in the village of Radruz, near the border with Ukraine, RMF24 reports.

"I will do everything to ensure that this flag does not appear in Poland. I believe that the Polish parliament will pass a law, because this is the Blut und Boden flag. This is the meaning of this flag, and it embodied and still embodies the entire ideology of the Ukrainian nationalist who killed Polish women and children," the Polish president said.

He also emphasized that the Poles are not blaming the entire Ukrainian people, but "the Bandera ideology of those who killed and who in the 21st century use the colors red and black".

Navrosky stated that the death of one of the victims in the town of Radruzh, a 14-year-old Polish girl named Jadwiga, was “the same death as the deaths of 14-year-old Ukrainians now at the hands of the Russians”.

"Because to those who talk about modern geopolitics [...], I want to remind you that the death of 14-year-old Jadwiga Romanyk — from the point of view of her pain threshold, what her parents experienced, from the point of view of what she felt in her heart when she was killed by Ukrainian nationalists — is the same death that 14-year-old Ukrainians are experiencing today at the hands of bandits from Russia," said Nawrocki.

Deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Poland

On May 26, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree awarding the Separate Special Operations Center "North" of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "named after the Heroes of UPA". The document states that this was done "to restore the historical traditions of the national army".

This decision by the Ukrainian president caused outrage among Poles. And on June 19, incumbent President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Polandʼs highest state award, which he had been awarded by former Polish President Andrzej Duda. Zelensky later sent his order to Poland via “Nova Post”.

After that, three former Ukrainian presidents: Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko, as well as other Ukrainian high-ranking officials, refused the order. In addition, former deputy of the Polish Sejm Piotr Vogler refused the Golden Cross of Merit.

At the same time, Polish politicians began to refuse Ukrainian state awards. In particular, this decision was reported by former Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak and former Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński. And former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki “as a sign of protest” transferred the Ukrainian Order of Yaroslav the Wise to the Museum of Memory of the Victims of the Volyn Tragedy in Chelm, Poland.

On July 3, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, at a meeting with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski, offered Poland a "package of anti-crisis steps" to regulate relations between the countries. These include consultations between the foreign ministries, a meeting of historians studying World War II, and the involvement of religious leaders of the countries in the dialogue.

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