Volodymyr Zelensky, by proposing as national heroes the Ukrainian Nazi-nationalists responsible for the genocide of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland, has triggered the most serious crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations in recent years. For many Poles, it was a real shock: people who welcomed millions of Ukrainians fleeing the country after the Russian invasion have asked themselves the reason for this ingratitude. This is also because 1.5 million Ukrainians still remain in Poland, benefiting from social services for themselves and their children, while the Polish state continues to provide massive military and logistical aid to Ukraine. It is worth remembering this gigantic effort by the Poles and Poland toward its neighbor invaded by Russia.

At the end of 2022, the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Georgette Mosbacher, then-United States Ambassador to Poland, had proposed awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the entire Polish nation. According to her, welcoming three million foreigners in the first three months of Russia’s war against Ukraine was “something extraordinary.” “Show me another country in history,” said Mosbacher, “capable of welcoming so many people fleeing war without building refugee camps: the Poles did it.” The most striking data shows that 70% of Poles were involved in helping refugees during the first three months of the Russian invasion.

It is estimated that during that period, private spending related to hosting reached nearly 10 billion zloty (PLN), equivalent to approximately 2.15 billion euros. Meanwhile, public spending, related to granting Ukrainian refugees access to social assistance and public services (particularly healthcare and education for their children), amounted that year to approximately 15.9 billion PLN. The total estimated spending in Poland by public authorities and private individuals to help refugees during the first three months of the war reached 5.45 billion euros (25.4 billion PLN).

But Poland did not only welcome millions of Ukrainian refugees; it was one of the first countries to begin large-scale deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine. The Polish equipment transferred to the Ukrainians was largely of post-Soviet design, still common in the Polish army at the time, such as Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, T-72 tanks, and BWP-1 infantry fighting vehicles. Despite their age and frequent shortages due to years of modernization, these models proved very useful to the Ukrainians. They were similar to the equipment already in use in their army, did not require long training or an integration period in the Ukrainian armed forces, and could be quickly deployed in combat. Between 2022 and 2024—the period in which the largest donations from Polish military depots were delivered to Ukraine—according to a report by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister from October 2025, a total of 318 tanks and 586 other types of armored vehicles (T-72 tanks in various versions, PT-91 tanks, Leopard 2A4 tanks, BWP-1 fighting vehicles, BRDM-2 reconnaissance vehicles, and Rosomak troop transport vehicles) were transferred, as well as 137 various types of artillery systems (including the post-Soviet 2S1 Gvozdika and BM-21 Grad systems), and the modern Polish Krab and Rak artillery systems. In addition to armored vehicles, Ukraine also received some Polish aircraft: 10 planes and 10 helicopters. Among them, MiG-29 fighters and Mi-24 attack helicopters.

It is difficult to provide precise data on other types of material support: ammunition, including air-to-air missiles, artillery ammunition and smaller calibers, small arms—including Piorun anti-aircraft missiles, successfully used by the Ukrainians—and individual equipment for soldiers, such as helmets and bulletproof vests. FlyEye reconnaissance drones, used successfully by defense forces, and Warmate loitering munitions, both produced by the Polish WB Group, were also delivered to Ukraine. According to a report by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, by March 2025 the total value of military assistance provided by Poland, including other forms of support for the Ukrainian armed forces, exceeded 18 billion PLN. In 2022 alone, the value of transferred military equipment, excluding other forms of military support, amounted to 7.23 billion PLN.

Millions of Poles, with a sincere and Christian gesture, welcomed, without asking for anything in return, millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Poland spent and continues to spend billions of euros on military aid to Ukraine without setting conditions and without sending a bill to the Ukrainian rulers. The Poles only expected a little gratitude and simple reciprocity. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Instead of gratitude, there is a wounding provocation: the denial of a genocide of more than one hundred thousand Poles, but also many Jews, Czechs, Slovaks, and Armenians, which took place in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists, allies of Hitler during the Second World War. Where is the respect for the dead? Where is the awareness of one’s own historical mistakes? How can the deep wounds of history heal if the reality of the genocide is denied? Surely this is not the path to Europe and its values.

Many ask themselves: why this shift by Zelensky toward a national-chauvinist stance? Przemysław Czarnek, former Minister of Education and Law and Justice candidate for prime minister, intervening on X, gives his explanation: “This is the real reason for Zelensky’s deliberate betrayal: massive corruption among his closest collaborators and the recent, drastic drop in his approval ratings. Wanting to cover up the corruption scandal in his inner circle, Zelensky—a Russian-speaking Ukrainian comedian from Kryvyi Rih, who had never been associated with the ideology of Banderism—has consciously pandered to the anti-Polish sentiment of Western Ukraine. He knew perfectly well what he was doing and realized that with this decision he would trigger the most serious crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations in recent years.”

The chancelleries of EU countries should reflect carefully on these moves by Zelensky, who, with increasingly blackmailing tones, continuously demands billions in aid.