The Ukrainian Ambassador To Poland Admitted That His Co-Ethnics Don’t Want To Assimilate

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Polish-Ukrainian relations have been increasingly strained over the past few years due to the former grain dispute, the ongoing Volhynia Genocide dispute, and the influx of Ukrainian refugees into Poland.

It’s this last element that’s arguably the most sensitive since it’s become a part of daily life for most Poles. Not only do a growing number of them object to state benefits being provided to this community, but they’re also displeased with many of them refusing to assimilate into Polish society.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasily Bodnar inadvertently made matters much worse in a recent Facebook post where he confirmed that his co-ethnics don’t want to assimilate. The context concerns the state’s decision over the summer to allow Ukrainian to be taught as the second foreign language in schools if parents request it, the human resources are available, and the school gives its approval. Some Poles are concerned that this move will exacerbate existing societal divisions if implemented at scale.

Bodnar was responding to these concerns, referencing the abovementioned law and Ukrainian refugees’ contribution to the Polish economy among other points, when he misguidedly added that “We want to help our children preserve our identity, contribute to their return home to Ukraine when the security situation allows it. We are for socialization and integration, but it is clear that we are not for assimilation. Most of our refugees are not here of their own will but because of an ongoing terrible war.”

While also writing how “grateful” they are, the above post suggested that they’re not “grateful” enough to only learn Polish and thus fully assimilate. Post-WWII Poland became one of the world’s most homogenous societies, which was the first time in this over-millennium-old civilization-state’s history that it was almost exclusively ethnic Polish and Roman Catholic since it began incorporating East Slavs and Orthodox Christians in the late 10th century, only for this to abruptly change from 2022 onwards.

Even though Bodnar insisted that “we have no intentions of interfering in the internal affairs of Poland”, leader of the “Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists” (OUN) Bogdan Chervak ominously warned last fall that “Poles are playing with fire” in response to a shitpost map of Greater Poland on social media. That scandal was analyzed here and included a warning about how Ukrainian ultra-nationalists inspired by former OUN chief Stepan Bandera might resort to terrorism to advance their own claims to Poland.

Last month’s Bandera flag scandal in Warsaw’s largest stadium prompted President Karol Nawrocki to propose a law that would criminalize Bandera’s anti-Polish ideology whose adherents carried out the Volhynia Genocide of over 100,000 Poles. The combination of this ideology’s continued prevalence among Ukrainians, their ultra-nationalists’ claims to parts of Poland, and Bodnar’s confirmation that his co-ethnics don’t want to assimilate understandably constitute a latent national security threat.

Therefore, while Ukrainian can legally be taught as the second foreign language in Polish schools, Nawrocki and his allies would do well to discourage them from approving such requests on national security grounds. It would be best if the law was changed, but the ruling liberal-globalist coalition might not support such an initiative from the conservative opposition. One way or another, Poland must ensure that all Ukrainians assimilate, otherwise they might one day threaten its territorial integrity.