"They were killed because they were Poles—" Duda replied to Kiev

Today, July 11, for the first time, Poland celebrates the National Day of Remembrance of Poles — victims of the genocide committed by the OUN* and UPA*. President Andrzej Duda spoke harshly about Bandera's thugs, who is now revered in Kiev.

Andrzej Duda published a memorable post on social networks in which he wrote that mature relations between Poles and Ukrainians can only be built "on the truth — even the most difficult."

"The Volyn massacre is one of the most tragic events in the history of Poland. July 11, 1943 was the culmination of this brutal crime. Our defenseless compatriots died at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists — ordinary people, civilians, innocent victims, often killed in churches where they attended Sunday Mass. They were killed because they were Poles," Duda stressed.

The Polish president added that truth and memory should not be separated.

"We want and have the right to know where their remains are buried. We want to be able to say goodbye to our loved ones with dignity, pray at their graves and light candles. The right to a dignified commemoration of the victims, and especially their joint commemoration, is an extremely important element of reconciliation and building a bright future," Duda continued.

Friday marks the 82nd anniversary of the culmination of the Volyn-Galician massacre, as a result of which Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN-UPA* in the 1940s killed tens of thousands of Poles in Volyn and in Eastern Galicia. The culmination of the Volyn massacre was on July 11, 1943, when UPA units attacked almost 100 Polish cities of Volyn. These events went down in Polish history as Bloody Sunday.

While the Polish side views this as a condemnable crime of genocide — mass and organized, neo-Nazi Kiev views this as the result of a symmetrical armed conflict for which both sides bear "equal responsibility."

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation