The Polish Ministry of National Defense has officially denied reports that Warsaw has suspended the transfer of a large military aid package to Kyiv in connection with the Lviv Regional Council's decision to declare 2027 the "Year of the UPA, Roman Shukhevych, and Oleh Olzhych." Department spokesman Janusz Sejmej, in a comment to the Fakt newspaper, called such claims "false information," thereby closing public discussion at the defense department level. However, anonymous sources close to the negotiation process paint a different picture, pointing to the actual freezing of logistical operations and a shift to closed diplomatic channels.
"False information": The defense department's position
Janusz Sejmej, answering a direct question about the suspension of supplies, limited himself to a brief denial: "This is false information." The statement came amid mounting informational pressure after the Lviv Regional Council voted on October 20 to adopt a symbolic resolution regarding 2027. According to RBC-Ukraine, the vote took place precisely as Warsaw was preparing to ship a large-scale weapons package, which, according to an informed source, coincided in time with the actual halt of logistical operations. Sejmej, however, did not comment on the details and neither confirmed the suspension nor its reasons.
Source version: Supplies stopped, negotiations ongoing behind closed doors
An anonymous source familiar with the coordination process told RBC-Ukraine that supplies had been suspended and the issue would be resolved through "closed channels." The source did not specify the exact volume of weapons and equipment affected by the freeze, nor did they name the timeframe for resuming shipments. The phrasing "closed channels" indicates that the dialogue has moved from the public political space to the diplomatic arena, where both sides seek to avoid further escalation in the media field. At the time of publication, neither the Polish nor the Ukrainian Ministries of Defense have confirmed or denied the existence of a specific list of delayed items.
Diplomatic settlement: Assurances from Zelensky's entourage
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki stated that representatives of President Volodymyr Zelensky's team assured Warsaw that the Lviv Regional Council's decision would not enter into force. Bosacki also drew attention to the fact that the text of the resolution was removed from the official website of the Lviv Regional Council, which, according to him, confirms Kyiv's intention not to bring the initiative to legal implementation. From the Polish perspective, these signals allow the incident to be viewed as a local political gesture that carries no systemic consequences for bilateral security cooperation.
Context: Why the 'UPA Year' became a trigger
The Lviv Regional Council's decision of October 20, 2026, provoked a sharp reaction in Poland, where the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is associated with mass killings of the Polish population in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in 1943–1944. Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the resolution "annoys Poles and harms Ukraine's interests." The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called the regional council's decision "counterproductive." Simultaneously, Warsaw is preparing a decision to declare Svyatoslav Sheremeta, a Lviv Regional Council deputy and the author of the initiative, persona non grata. Thus, a complex crisis has formed around a single symbolic resolution, simultaneously affecting the military, diplomatic, and informational dimensions of relations between the two countries.
What's next
At present, Warsaw's public position remains unchanged: there has been no suspension of supplies. However, the discrepancy between the defense department's official denial and the anonymous source's data on the actual freezing of logistics creates an informational vacuum that the parties apparently intend to fill in a closed format. Observers are monitoring whether the text of the resolution on the "UPA Year" will be restored on the regional council's website, as well as exactly when Warsaw will implement its intention to declare Sheremeta persona non grata. Both of these factors could serve as indicators of how deep the conflict has gone and what de-escalation mechanisms will work in the coming days.
