Poroshenko regrets Polish Sejm decision on Volyn tragedy, urges Poland to jointly evaluate historic events
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he regrets a decision taken by the Polish Sejm to designate the killing of Poles in Volyn in 1943 as genocide and warns against further political speculations about this.
"I regret the Polish Sejm's decision. I know many would like to use it for political speculation," he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
He also called on Poland for mutual forgiveness and joint evaluation of the tragic events.
"We should go back to the commandment of John Paul II – let us forgive and ask forgiveness! Only by tanking joint steps, we can achieve Christian reconciliation and unity. Only together we can find out all the facts of the tragic pages of the common history," he wrote.
Poroshenko also says he is confident Ukraine and Poland will continue to "move along this path."
On July 22 the Polish Sejm adopted a resolution to make July 11 as National Day of Remembrance for the victims of the genocide committed against the citizens of the 2nd Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during World War II.
The Volyn tragedy was the mutual ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians and Poles, committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Polish Army with the participation of a Polish Schutzmannschaft battalion and Soviet partisans in Volyn in 1943 during WWII.
