Duda cautions Zelenskyy against ‘sharp’ remarks on Polish opposition leader

"As a rule, presidents, especially those in their first term, are careful in such matters because they know that soon they will run for president and then they may face a similar situation. This is really specific," he said, noting Zelenskyy's surprisingly "sharp" style of communication with the Polish media, which has a "very specific point of view." 

As president of the Institute of National Remembrance, Navrotsky's knowledge of the 1943 Volhynia massacres is "incomparably greater" than that of the Ukrainian president.

On Jan. 9, Navrotsky said that he could not imagine “a state that cannot answer for its crimes being part of the alliances (EU and NATO),” referring to the massacres, when the Polish Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army carried out mutual ethnic cleansing. As a result, more than 100,000 Poles and 40,000 Ukrainians were killed.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned Navrotsky's statement, while the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called it manipulative and criticized him for "putting opportunistic considerations ahead of Poland's strategic interests.

On Jan. 15, Zelenskyy also commented on Navrotsky's statement in an interview with the Onet media outlet, saying that if Ukraine did not join the EU and NATO, Russian forces would directly threaten Poland on its borders.

“Mr. Navrotsky should start training, because it may happen that he will have to take up arms to defend his country together with his compatriots,” he said, adding that “political competition” will no longer be an issue for Navrotsky because he will have to “fight for his life.”

Zelenskyy's visit to Warsaw came after a breakthrough in the historic dispute over the exhumation of victims of the Volhynia massacres.

In a joint statement issued by the Polish and Ukrainian foreign ministers on Nov. 27, Kyiv confirmed its readiness to allow the search and exhumation of victims in Ternopil Oblast.