Why did MEPs rebuke Kyiv over the UPA?

What did the European Parliament mean to say to Kyiv when it voted on 8 July 2026? This retrospective, written for 10 July 2026, looks at that resolution and the dispute behind it.

The resolution expressed regret over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). It cited the UPA's responsibility for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.

How the dispute began

The row dated from May 2026. Zelenskyy had awarded the Ukrainian Special Operations Center North the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA", at the unit's own request. The decision caused outrage in Poland and led to a major crisis in bilateral relations.

The history at stake

The massacres were carried out between 1943 and 1945 in German-occupied Poland. The UPA, with the support of parts of the local Ukrainian population, targeted the Polish minority in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, parts of Polesia and the Lublin region. The UPA's actions resulted in up to 100,000 Polish deaths.

An opinion on the vote

The vote moved a bilateral quarrel into a European forum. Warsaw's grievance, about how Ukraine honours a wartime formation, now had the backing of a resolution passed in the European Parliament. The resolution's wording was restrained: it regretted the decision rather than demanding that it be reversed.

For Ukraine, the episode showed that a decision about naming a unit, taken at home, could carry consequences within its relations with the European Union. For Poland, it showed that the memory of Volhynia remained a live political issue. Both points sat on top of the title awarded in May and the history that Polish critics cited against it.