02.01.2019, Kiev.
Israeli and Polish ambassadors in Ukraine Joel Lion and Bartosz Cichocki called insulting the poster with the portrait of Bandera in their joint statement on January 2.
The diplomats spoke out that it cannot be tolerated that the people, who promoted the ethnic cleansing – Stepan Bandera, Andrey Melnik (one of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (organization banned in Russia)), writer and ardent nationalist Ivan Lipa and his son Yuriy, were glorified in Ukraine, especially in Kiev and Lvov.
The ambassadors were especially outraged by the banner with the portrait of Stepan Banera displayed at the Kyiv City Administration and by the money allocated from the budget of Lvov region to honor the memory of nationalists. In their opinion, such actions do not lead to victory over anti-Semitism and to reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine. The diplomats recalled the victims of ethnic cleansing and called on local authorities in Kiev and Lvov region to open up a dialogue to find out the historical truth.
Torchlight procession in honor of the 111th anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera took place in Kiev on January 1, 2020.
Ukrainian nationalists and punitive nationalist groups took an active part in the mass murder of the Jewish population in Ukraine as well as the inhabitants of Polish settlements (“the Volyn massacre”) during the times of Nazi occupation.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
