The pro-Russian segment of the Internet has widely disseminated information that 395 members of the European Parliament voted against an amendment during a plenary session on Thursday, September 19, 2024, requiring Ukraine to apologize to Poland for the Volyn tragedy. The corresponding amendment to the European Parliament resolution on further financial and military support for Ukraine from EU countries was allegedly introduced by the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” group. In turn, Russian propagandists commented on the refusal to vote for this amendment as follows: “The Banderas were allowed not to apologize for the wild atrocities that the OUN-UPA committed in Volyn”.

The Europe of Sovereign Nations group, which is inclined towards pro-Russian initiatives and is controlled by the pro-Russian German far-right party Alternative for Germany, did indeed introduce this amendment to the resolution, as some Polish media wrote. However, as the propagandists themselves claim, even four Polish MEPs (three from The Left and one from The Third Way) voted against the amendment.

In addition, Ukraine has already officially asked Poland for forgiveness for the Volyn tragedy and forgave the crimes committed by the Poles against Ukrainians. In 2014, the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, during his speech before both houses of the Polish parliament and in the presence of the then Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, said in the context of the Volyn tragedy: “We forgive and ask for forgiveness”. Subsequently, in 2016, Kravchuk, Yushchenko, the heads of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church asked the Poles for forgiveness for the Volyn tragedy, signing an open appeal to Poland and Polish society. The text, in particular, said: “We ask for forgiveness for the crimes and insults committed - this is our main motive. We ask for forgiveness and also forgive the crimes and injustices committed against us”.

Russian propagandists regularly speculate on the Volyn tragedy, a sensitive topic for Ukrainian and Polish society. They manipulate information and spread corresponding fakes in order to cause discord between citizens of both countries and spoil diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Poland. Earlier, we refuted the information that the Babel publication allegedly published a quote from a Ukrainian director with the idea for the film “Volyn Chainsaw Massacre”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that Ukraine stated that it was the military personnel who came to the reburial, and not civilians, who died in the village of Hroza during Russian shelling. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that civilians were killed in the attack in the village. Among the 59 victims was even a young child, 8-year-old Ivan Kozyr. Claims that about 100 military personnel attended the commemoration are also untrue.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko stressed that the Russians killed 59 civilians with a direct hit from an Iskander missile, including pensioners, doctors, farmers, teachers, and entrepreneurs. Entire generations of families were victims of the tragedy. It was established that two traitors were behind the crime, who corrected the attack on the cafe. These are the brothers Volodymyr and Dmytro Mamon, who went over to the enemy side.

Targeting civilians is a war crime under international humanitarian law. The UN believes there is sufficient evidence of Russia's involvement in the strike, although Russia has not admitted direct responsibility for the crime.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to shift responsibility for the crimes of the aggressor onto the victim of aggression and justify the Russian military.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say Volodymyr Zelenskyi is hiding the fact that the Russians have never fired on civilian infrastructure. Allegedly, he passes off every rocket attack as “the shelling of a civilian object, and not a military one, as it really is”. The authors also believe that during the last rocket attack in Dnipro on May 26, the Russians allegedly got into a military facility where specially trained people are repairing equipment.

This thesis is unfounded, because the Russians strike at not only military facilities. For example, today in Dnipro, Russians attacked a hospital where there were peaceful Ukrainians. As a result of a Russian missile attack on the hospital, one person was killed and 15 others were injured, including children. Propagandists write that the Ukrainian leadership deliberately hides the fact that all the “destroyed” objects belong to the military infrastructure. Allegedly, it's easier to blame the enemy “for all the troubles”.

However, the Russians deliberately write that their goal is exclusively military facilities in order to whiten themselves and show that they supposedly do not commit war crimes against Ukrainians. The shelling of residential buildings in Ukrainian cities, for example, in Uman or Dnipro and in many other Ukrainian cities, is definitely not military facilities. The Russians purposefully destroy civilian objects and commit genocide of Ukrainians, hiding behind military infrastructure. And the Ukrainian leadership does not actually hide the information and allegedly transfers the blame to the Russians, but speaks directly about their war crimes.