Russia's FSB launches disinformation campaign on Volhynia killings

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has initiated a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging relations between Ukraine and Poland, Ukraine's state Center for Combating Disinformation reported. Andriy Kovalenko, the center's head, stated on Telegram that the FSB planned to release forged documents concerning World War II, specifically the Volhynia tragedy, on July 5.

This alleged campaign surfaced as Russian state-controlled media outlet "Russia Today" published an article early Sunday, citing purportedly declassified FSB documents. The article accused Dmytro Kliachkivsky, a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), of murdering 11 Catholic priests and nearly 2,000 Poles in the summer of 1943. The reported killings occurred in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, a city in Ukraine's Volhynia region.

"Russian propaganda deliberately uses manipulative terminology to provoke a strong emotional reaction in Polish society," reported "Ukrainska Pravda." The mass killings of tens of thousands of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945 have long been a deeply sensitive issue for both Poland and Ukraine. Significant disagreements persist over the role of the UPA and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in these events.

Poland views these groups as criminal organizations, while many Ukrainians consider them part of a national liberation movement. Furthermore, Poles interpret these events as a planned ethnic cleansing, whereas Ukrainians describe them as a tragedy stemming from mutual ethnic conflict. The diplomatic dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw has intensified recently, following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's naming of a Ukrainian military unit after "UPA heroes" in late May. Subsequently, Polish President Andrzej Duda revoked the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state award, which had been presented to Zelenskyy in 2023.