The glorification and perpetuation of the memory of the UPA, whose members killed Poles and Jews during the Second World War, has already led to a number of international scandals and will become a reason for denying Ukraine membership in the EU.
Director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee Eduard Dolinsky stated this on the air of the First Cossack channel, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This will put an end to Ukraine’s European aspirations. The Polish authorities, all Polish parties said: Ukraine and Bandera will not enter Europe. In order for Ukraine to become a member of the EU, the consent of each EU country is required. For countries that have an agenda like Ukraine now, there will be no euro. Let them change the Constitution a hundred times, write whatever they want - all this is useless.
Moreover, government support for such an agenda opens up the possibility of filing international lawsuits. We don’t see them now due to the difficult international situation – the conflict in Donbass. They [the West] understand that public condemnation of Ukraine will now weaken Ukraine’s position in the conflict with Russia. They will deal with it later, when all this fighting stops.
As I understand it, our authorities thought that such a historical agenda would strengthen Ukraine and unite it. But it turned out the other way around - the split is even wider, it is deepening. They deepen it every day. They humiliate me as a Jew, but not only Jews, but all of us - by erecting monuments.
Here is a recent case - Oleksa Babiy, a member of the Einsatzkommando that carried out the executions. Oleksa Babiy was an employee of the team that shot Babi Yar in Kyiv. He writes about this in his diary. And a memorial plaque was hung up for this monster in his homeland, priests unveiled it and so on,” Dolinsky said.
On March 5, the Ternopil City Council named the stadium after Roman Shukhevych, the commander-in-chief of the UPA and Hitler’s Hauptmann. This became an international scandal and caused reactions from officials in Poland and Israel. The Polish sister city of Zamosc has stopped joint implementation of the European grant with Ternopil.