Poland wants to add Svyatoslav Sheremeta, who is involved in the exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy, to the list of undesirable persons

The head of the Polish Foreign Ministry Radosław Sikorski signed a petition to add Svyatoslav Sheremeta — the director of the “Dolya” center (which deals with exhumations, including victims of the Volyn tragedy) — to the list of persons undesirable in the country.

Sikorsky wrote about this in X.

Sheremeta is also a deputy of the Lviv Regional Council. According to Sikorsky, he made this decision because Sheremeta is the author of the idea to declare 2027 the year of Roman Shukhevych, who, according to him, while commanding UPA, gave orders to evict and kill Poles.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also criticized the regional councilʼs decision, calling it harmful to Ukraine and a "suicidal tactic".

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told journalists that the Lviv Regional Councilʼs decision to declare 2027 the Year of Roman Shukhevych in the region is counterproductive to efforts aimed at building Ukrainian-Polish relations. When this decision was made at the regional level, the deputies did not turn to the Foreign Ministry or central government bodies for advice.

In view of this, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on the Polish side to also "refrain from drastic steps".

Svyatoslav Sheremeta himself, in a comment to Suspilne, stated that every nation has the right to its own heroes, and urged Poles not to tell Ukrainians who to honor. He called the reaction of Polish officials “very strange” and recalled that in 2017, Poland had already declared him persona non grata “for his views on history”. The deputy denied some of Sikorsky’s claims and is waiting for official documents.

UPD 15:50: The Mayor of Przemysl Wojciech Bakun called on Andriy Sadovy to publicly distance himself from Sheremetaʼs initiative, threatening to suspend or sever relations with Lviv. For his part, Mayor of Krakow Lukasz Hybala also proposed temporarily suspending cooperation with the city.

"We all know that Ukraine is a victim of aggression from Russia. We support Ukraine in this fight and value partnership with Ukraine, but these relations must be built on historical reconciliation, which must be based on historical truth," explained the mayor of Krakow.

• On October 17, President Zelensky stated that Ukraineʼs "relations with Poland have really improved".

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