Polish authorities have made their choice in favor of playing on the darkest historical traumas, consciously burning bridges — Logvinenko

Exactly a year ago, when I wrote about the threat of fascistization in Poland and the rise of anti-Ukrainian sentiments, I, as always, wanted to believe that this was just a pessimistic scenario. It seemed that the shared existential threat from the east should keep the closest or next in line for moscow’s boot in check. But both the election results and the recent almost anti-Ukrainian statements by Nawrocki’s opponent suggested that this scenario had turned into a public demand, much like with Magyar in Hungary. Nawrocki did not just lead this right-wing populist drift – he moved toward institutional revanchism, Bogdan Logvinenko, the founder of the Ukraїner project, writes.

The demonstrative sending of a state order by President Zelenskyy via Nova Poshta, which actively operates in Poland and is gaining popularity, is a wonderful response to the radicalized electorate, which has been fed for years on anti-Ukrainian hysteria and speculations about Volyn.

But this is also the logical culmination of the same narrative, “Polish interests first,” which was promoted by marginal Polish video bloggers and which we, as a state, successfully ignored. While we poured resources into the stillborn russian-language channel “Freedom,” the platform for Polish-language understanding remained empty. We lost the battle for understanding before it even reached the high cabinets.

However, there is another, much more important dimension to this story for us – Ukrainian dignity. The mass refusal of other Ukrainian officials, including President Kuchma, to accept their Polish awards as a sign of solidarity is an unprecedented step. This is a paradigm shift in our foreign policy, where for decades we have been silently swallowing humiliation from neighbors for the sake of the illusion of good neighborliness.

With our demarche of returning orders, Ukraine demonstrates that it is no longer just a powerless supplier of cheap labor that can first be cynically exploited and then publicly berated for a century-old historical grievances. We are becoming a subject capable of refusing trinkets when our self-respect is undermined, responding to a populist electorate with its own methods.

The Polish authorities have finally made their choice in favor of playing on the darkest historical traumas, consciously burning bridges. russia, as in the spring of 2014 after the state funding of the film Volyn, is again applauding: the principle of “divide and rule” likely costs it almost nothing here. It is obvious that Volyn has become much more important than Katyn.

For us, this is a bitter but necessary stage of growing up. No geopolitical or historical alliance will work if we do not have our own proactive information strategy outward. Our only real support is ourselves and our ability to defend our space: both physical on the battlefield and semantic beyond it.