Heroes of Ukraine's liberation war appear, overshadow UPA – head of Polish President's Intl Policy Bureau

KYIV. Jan 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainians cannot be expected to condemn Stepan Bandera and other leaders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), who are national heroes for our eastern neighbors, Head of the Polish President’s International Policy Bureau Jakub Kumoch said in an interview with the RMF24 online radio.

According to him, it is really hard to imagine that Ukraine will be able to abandon its point of view on the struggle for an independent state.

"It is hard to expect that the UPA, as something that is associated primarily with the struggle against Russians and Germans, will somehow be erased from Ukrainian history," he said.

Kumoch also acknowledged that the Poles, of course, "do not like" that Ukraine is turning to the UPA traditions. "However, I don’t quite agree with the message that Ukraine is building its identity on this, I believe that, on the contrary, this building will be very limited in the coming decades, because the heroes of this liberation war will appear and they will overshadow the UPA," he said.