The corridors of power in Kyiv and Warsaw are humming with tension. Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, is facing a political minefield: a row with Poland over a disputed chapter of Second World War history. The timing could not be worse.
Ukraine needs Polish arms, Polish solidarity, and Polish patience. But the ghosts of 1943 are being resurrected. The issue: the Volhynia massacre, where Ukrainian nationalists killed tens of thousands of Poles.
Warsaw wants an official apology. Zelensky’s team fears opening a Pandora’s box. Enter Britain.
Whitehall sources tell me that Downing Street is pushing for UK mediation. The thinking is simple. Starmer, like Sunak before him, sees a role for London as the honest broker between Kyiv and its neighbours.
Aides are already drafting a possible visit by the Foreign Secretary to both capitals. The game is delicate. Zelensky cannot afford to alienate Poland, the faithful ally that has taken in millions of refugees and supplies weapons.
But he also cannot alienate nationalist elements at home who see the Volhynia demands as ahistorical or even anti-Ukrainian. Polling inside Ukraine shows that 60% of voters oppose any apology. Meanwhile, Polish patience is fraying.
Protests by Polish farmers at the border have already blocked grain shipments. The government of Donald Tusk is under pressure from the right to get a formal acknowledgement. A senior Polish diplomat told me: “We are not asking for much.
Just admit what happened. Then we can move on.” But in Kyiv, the fear is that an apology would be used by Russian propaganda to paint Ukraine as a fascist state.
The Kremlin is already jubilant. This is a perfect wedge issue. British mediation might be the only escape hatch.
I am told that Starmer’s team sees this as a way to bolster UK influence in eastern Europe. A London-brokered compromise could involve a joint statement of regret, not an apology, and a commitment to investigate historical archives. But the clock is ticking.
The Polish parliament is set to debate a resolution next month demanding Zelensky apologise. If it passes, the pressure becomes unbearable. Watch this space.
