Just when Ukraine thought it was winning the propaganda war with Russia, 50-year-old Polish President Andrzej Duda reminded Ukraine about its massacre during WW II of over 100,000,Poles, reminding the world that Ukraine has a sketchy past when it came to genocide and human rights. Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky does everything to sanitize Ukraine’s past, often talking about his Jewish roots to dispute 69-year-old President Vladimir Putin’s claims that he’s trying to de-Nazify Ukraine. Duda’s acknowledgement, despite allying with Ukraine now against the Russian Federation, reminds the world that history cannot be ignored. Marking the 79th anniversary of the 1943 massacre in Volhynia by Ukraine’s Insurgent Army, where some 100,000 Poles were liquidated by Ukraine, Duda set the record straight, despite opening doors for Ukraine’s 15 million refugees.
Zelensky has presented Ukraine as a human rights committed society, forgetting what Russia lived through during Nazi occupation of Ukraine and Poland in WW II. Duda chafes when the U.S. and Israel point out Nazi complicity by Polish forces in WW II, resulting in Poland housing some of the Nazi’s most lethal death camps. Duda likes to remind people of Poland’s resistance to Nazi occupation and efforts during the time to save Jews and other destined for Nazi death camps. Duda’s remarks about the Ukrainian massacre of Polish nationals shows there’s some truth to Putin’s concerns about neo-Nazis and ultranationalists in Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine have presented a common front against the Russian invasion, agreeing with President Joe Biden that the armed conflict was “unprovoked and unjustified,” calling the war an “imperial land grab” by the Russian Federation.
Zelensky had nothing to say to Duda about revealing the facts about Ukrainian genocide in WW II against Poles. Ukraine’s attacks on Poles and other nationals in WW II in Eastern Galica from 1944-1945 were “firmly and clearly stated” by Duda, trying to set the historical record straight. When Putin talks about Ukraine’s neo-Nazis and unltranationalists, he’s harking back to the extraordinary losses Russia incurred during WW II, totaling 29 million. No combatant in WW II suffered more losses than Russia. “It was not about revenge, about any retaliation. There is no better proof of this that the time we have now,” Duda said, reminding Ukraine that Poland has done everything possible to deal with the Russian occupation causing thousands of civilian deaths, millions of refugees and destruction to Ukraine’s infrastructure. Duda upended Zelensky tightly-controlled PR narrative.
Zelensky has difficulty with the truth, spending much of his time in carefully prepared video clips to the Ukrainian people—and other countries—giving his version of the truth. Rarely, does Zelensky admit to battlefield losses to the Russian Federation, preferring to talk incessantly about how Russia didn’t conquer Kiev in the first few days of the conflict. But since then, Russia had managed to seize over 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, including all of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast and ports. Zelensky spends his time making a case to the International Criminal Court at the Hague for Putin’s atrocities and war crimes. Meanwhile, Putin continue to seize more sovereign land, destroying much of Ukraine’s infrastructure, driving more refugees out the country. Instead of pressuring Putin to go to the peace table, Zelensky, with Biden’s backing, continues to battle the Russian Federation.
Zelsnksy had no reaction to Duda’s comments about Ukraine’s past genocide against Polish citizens in WW II. “Those who we know were murderers were also heroes for Ukraine, at other time and with a different enemy, and often died at the hands of the Soviet Union and as symbols of Kiev’s painful struggle for independence from Moscow,” said Duda. Duda knows he walks a fine line when it comes to backing the Western Alliance battle with the Ukraine War. Zelensky has difficulty acknowledging any wrongdoing in Ukraine’s past. In the current conflict, Ukraine and the U.S. admit nothing about Kiev receiving unlimited lethal arms and cash on the Russian border. Putin said clearly that the Kremlin won’t tolerate a U.S. puppet sate on its border. Yet Biden gived Ukraine unlimited lethal arms, including advanced long-range missile defense systems, to battle the Russian Federation.
Zelensky won’t admit that Ukraine engaged in genocide against Poland between 1943-1945 from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Organization of Ukranian Nationalists under leadership of Stepan Bandera. Zelensky only wants to talk about Russia perpetuating genocide against the Ukrainian people, when Duda poinys out Ukrainr’s dark past. When it comes to today’s collateral damage, Zelensky knows there are human consequences to battling the Russian Federation, especially with Biden’s March 26 pledge that Putin could no longer remain in power. So, the Ukraine War, funded by Biden and directed from the White House, has morphed into a U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation. If Biden really wants to help get 31-year-old WNBA star Britney Griner and 52-year-old convicted spy Paul Whelan out of Russian jail, he needs to rethink the war effort.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
