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Why the European Parliament rebuked Kyiv over the UPA
Summary
A resolution adopted on 8 July 2026 put a dispute between Poland and Ukraine over a military unit's honorary title before the European Parliament.
What did the European Parliament decide on 8 July 2026, and why did it matter for Ukraine's relations with its closest neighbour? On that day MEPs passed a resolution expressing regret over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), citing the organisation's responsibility for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.
Origins of the dispute
The row had been building since May 2026. Zelenskyy had awarded the Special Operations Center North the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA", at that unit's own request. The decision caused outrage in Poland and led to a major crisis in bilateral relations.
The historical weight behind the Polish reaction is considerable. The massacres were carried out in German-occupied Poland between 1943 and 1945 by the UPA, with the support of parts of the local Ukrainian population. They targeted the Polish minority in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, parts of Polesia and the Lublin region, and caused up to 100,000 Polish deaths.
A rebuke at European level
The Parliament's resolution moved the argument beyond a bilateral quarrel. By expressing regret over the naming decision, the chamber placed the issue within the wider framework of relations between Ukraine and the European Union.
The war continued around it
The vote came as the war carried on. On 6 July 2026, a Russian ballistic missile and drone attack on Kyiv Oblast killed at least 22 people and injured 56 others, and rescuers were working to free civilians trapped under rubble in Kyiv. The same day, Ukraine's General Staff reported that drones had struck the Omsk refinery in Omsk, in Siberia.
In diplomacy, a separate development came on 7 July 2026, when Trump said the United States would lift sanctions imposed on Turkey in 2020 over its purchase of Russian defence missiles. The announcement was linked to the 2026 Ankara NATO summit.
What the day showed
Taken together, 8 July 2026 showed Ukraine managing pressure on two fronts: the battlefield and civilian suffering from Russian strikes on one side, and a dispute over historical memory with a neighbour on the other. The Parliament's resolution made clear that the naming of the unit was a matter for European institutions as well as for Warsaw and Kyiv.
