Poland has warned Ukraine that there will be consequences for honoring controversial nationalist leaders in the planned Memorial to National Heroes in the capital Kiev, DPA reported, BTA reported.
The homage "to such historical figures is not only regrettable from a Polish point of view, but also short-sighted from a Ukrainian point of view," Marcin Przydzic, foreign policy advisor to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, said today.
"A healthy form of nationalism is sometimes acceptable, but here we are talking about chauvinism - an ideology close to Nazism," he added, warning that the dispute could complicate Ukraine's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.
He was commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to sign a law establishing a Memorial to National Heroes, another contentious issue in relations between Warsaw and Kiev amid growing tensions over historical issues in recent months.
In the future, members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) will also be honored in the so-called Pantheon.
The nationalist UPA fighters are responsible for mass murders of Poles and Jews, especially in the Volyn region of present-day western Ukraine during the German occupation in World War II.
The rift between Ukraine and Poland, one of Kiev's strongest supporters against Russia, erupted in June after Zelensky awarded a military unit the honorary title of "Heroes of the UPA."
As a result, Warsaw stripped Zelensky of his Order of the White Eagle - Poland's highest state decoration. Several other Ukrainian and Polish politicians also returned their decorations.
The latest escalation of the conflict on Monday came as European leaders arrived in Kiev to mark the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.
Last week, the remains of controversial Ukrainian nationalist leader Yevhen Konovalets, who was assassinated in 1938, were repatriated to Ukraine and buried with state honors. Since 1929, Konovalets had led the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), modeled on Italian fascism and German National Socialism. The UPA later established itself as the military wing of the OUN.
The OUN has been responsible for terrorist attacks, such as the assassination of Polish Interior Minister Bronisław Piatski in 1934. Before Konovalets' reburial, the remains of his successor in the OUN, Andriy Melnik, were also transferred to Ukraine.