Polish Przemysl suspends cooperation with Lviv amid scandal over “the year of UPA and Shukhevych”

Polish Przemysl (which is part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship) is suspending cooperation with Lviv amid the scandal surrounding the Lviv Regional Councilʼs declaration of 2027 as the "year of UPA and Roman Shukhevych".

This is reported by RMF 24.

This decision was unanimously adopted by the deputies of the Przemyśl City Council. In the near future, the Lublin Voivodeship will also vote on severing relations with Lviv.

Recently, Ukrainian media also reported, citing sources, that amid this scandal, Poland had suspended the delivery of a large-scale package of military aid to Ukraine. However, the Polish Ministry of Defense later denied this information.

What preceded

Svyatoslav Sheremeta, a deputy of the Lviv Regional Council and director of the “Dolya” center, which deals with exhumations, including those of victims of the Volyn tragedy, proposed declaring 2027 the year of the UPA commander Roman Shukhevych, poet and OUN activist Oleh Olzhych, and UPA. Deputies of the Lviv Regional Council supported this idea at a meeting on October 20.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the decision “unacceptable”, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it “suicidal tactics”. The mayors of Krakow and Przemyśl proposed suspending their partnership with Lviv.

That evening, Sheremeta was officially added to the list of persons undesirable in Poland and banned from entering the Schengen area until 2031. Sheremeta himself called Polandʼs reaction "very strange", emphasizing that every nation has the right to its own heroes. He recalled that in 2017, Poland had already declared him persona non grata "for his views on history".

At the same time, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told reporters that the decision of the Lviv Regional Council is "counterproductive" for the development of Ukrainian-Polish relations. They emphasized that the deputies did not consult with the central authorities, and called on Poland to "refrain from drastic steps".

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