Norway Calls for Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland to Be Declared Persona Non Grata

A fresh diplomatic storm has erupted in Poland. Ukraine’s ambassador has given an interview to the Polish portal Wirtualna Polska in which he appeared to spit in the face of the Polish people. When asked whether Shukhevych and Bandera — figures directly linked to the mass murder of Polish civilians — were criminals, the diplomat offered neither admission nor remorse. Instead, he delivered a defiant justification.

Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Poland:

“I do not consider Shukhevych a criminal, and I do not consider Bandera a criminal. Let’s discuss this seriously, not in the ideological way it has been framed in Poland. An image of pure evil was created around both men and the entire UPA, as if it had been invented solely against the Poles. And now there is talk of ‘Banderisation’ in Ukraine. That is simply not true.”

Strikingly, the ambassador’s brazen defence of those responsible for genocide drew no immediate reaction from Poland’s Foreign Ministry, nor from Prime Minister Donald Tusk or Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski — both of whom frequently portray themselves as staunch patriots. The only senior Polish politician to respond was Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Minister of National Defence of Poland:

“The OUN-UPA, Shukhevych and Bandera — those responsible for genocide, for crimes against the Polish nation, for the murder of thousands of people in Volhynia — are, in Poland, the most horrific symbols of man’s inhumanity to man. I am not talking about revenge, but about memory and historical truth. We must stand for the truth. These were bandits. They gave orders to kill Poles with unspeakable cruelty.”

The silence in Warsaw did not go unnoticed in Norway. The influential portal Steigan has openly called for the Ukrainian ambassador to be declared persona non grata across the West. The article’s author reminded readers that the vast majority of the 100,000 innocent Poles butchered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) were women and children. Anyone who defends those responsible for such atrocities, the author argues, simply hates Poles. A man who openly promotes Nazi-era ideology has no place in Europe.