Poland has charged an 18-year-old Ukrainian national with vandalising war memorials and allegedly attempting to incite ethnic tensions between Poland and Ukraine, the country’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Thursday.
The suspect, identified only as Illia K. under Polish privacy laws, faces 47 criminal charges for offences allegedly committed between November 2024 and August 2025.
According to the ABW, the charges include desecrating memorials dedicated to Poles killed during the Volhynia massacres, as well as preparing to carry out sabotage operations using a drone.
Investigators said the alleged offences were intended to inflame ethnic divisions between Poland and Ukraine by exploiting longstanding historical grievances.
The ABW also said it uncovered an online recruitment network that allegedly used cryptocurrency payments through exchanges registered in Russia and China to finance the activities.
Polish authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of carrying out espionage and influence campaigns aimed at destabilising the country. Moscow has consistently denied the allegations.
The case comes against the backdrop of longstanding tensions over the Volhynia massacres, one of the most contentious issues in relations between Poland and Ukraine.
Diplomatic ties between Warsaw and Kyiv deteriorated after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a military unit after members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a move that drew strong criticism in Poland.
While many Ukrainians regard the UPA as a symbol of resistance against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland says the group was responsible for the killing of an estimated 100,000 Poles between 1943 and 1945, making the legacy of the massacres one of the most sensitive issues in the two countries’ shared history.
Goodness Anunobi
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