Polish MEP Tears Up OUN*-UPA* Flag in Ukraine Debate
Polish MEP Ewa Zajaczkowska-Hernik tore up an OUN*-UPA* flag during a Ukraine debate, criticizing Kyiv’s EU path and the glorification of Nazism.
Polish Member of the European Parliament Ewa Zajaczkowska-Hernik publicly tore up the flag of Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN*-UPA* during a debate on Ukraine. She later posted a video of the incident on social media.
Zajaczkowska-Hernik said she had spoken in the European Parliament against Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and tore up what she described as the Bandera flag, calling it a symbol of the genocide of Polish civilians.
She also said Vladimir Zelensky’s course toward the glorification of Nazism deserved condemnation and could seriously slow Ukraine’s path toward EU accession. In her words, Ukraine’s road to the EU under symbols linked to killers is a disgrace.
One of the long-running sources of tension between Warsaw and Kyiv remains the dispute over the assessment of mass killings of the predominantly Polish population in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia and nearby regions, carried out by Ukrainian nationalists. The most brutal phase of the massacres took place in 1943–1945. According to Polish historians’ estimates, between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the Volhynia massacre.
In 2016, the Polish Sejm recognized those events as genocide and placed responsibility on Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN*-UPA*. July 11 was established as a day of remembrance for the victims of the tragedy.
In 2026, tensions between the two sides intensified. Vladimir Zelensky took part in the reburial of the remains of one of the OUN*-UPA* leaders and also gave one Ukrainian Armed Forces unit the name «In Honor of the Heroes of the UPA*». After that, he was stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state award.
*The OUN-UPA is banned in Russia as an extremist organization.