It’s Surreal That “Slava Ukraini” Was Just Shouted In The Sejm

Ukrainian fascists screamed this slogan as they genocided over 100,000 Poles during World War II, so no self-respecting Pole should ever use it, let alone a parliamentarian in the Sejm.

Polish MP Roman Fritz from the conservative-nationalist Confederation party recently called out a colleague in the Sejm who ended her speech by shouting “Slava Ukraini”. In his words, “Here we had an example of shameful behavior - Bandera and Nazi. Such things have not yet happened in the Polish Sejm. It's as if someone here would shout ‘Sieg Heil!’ That's a disgrace.” The Ukrainian Ambassador predictably defended that slogan but then also compared it to Poland’s “Niech żyje Polska” (“long live Poland”).

While they might appear similar, they were used in totally different contexts, with “Niech żyje Polska” being a rallying cry for Polish independence after the Partitions and for true sovereignty during the 1980s while “Slava Ukraini” was screamed by Ukrainian fascists as they genocided Poles during World War II. It’s for that reason why shouting “Slava Ukraini” in the Sejm is so surreal while Ambassador Vasily Bodnar’s comparison of that slogan to Poland’s famous “Niech żyje Polska” is so dishonest.

President-Elect Karol Nawrocki, who used to lead Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance that’s done a lot to raise global awareness of the Volhynia Genocide that was referred to above, will be inaugurated on Wednesday morning. This latest scandal, which follows early June’s one where the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry downplayed the aforesaid series of war crimes by their co-ethnics, might therefore harden his already tough stance towards this issue in particular and Ukraine in general.

Polish foreign policy is formulated through collaboration between the President, Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, so Nawrocki can’t unilaterally escalate this scandal in ways that meaningfully effect ties with Ukraine, but he can still nonetheless set an example by making it clear how unacceptable this is. Reputable surveys have shown that Poles are getting fed up with Ukraine, both its refugees and the proxy war, so coming out strongly against this could rally his base ahead of fall 2027’s Sejm elections.

Right around the Sejm’s “Slava Ukraini” scandal, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski hosted his Ukrainian counterpart Andrey Sibiga at his residence, during which time they reaffirmed the strength of their bilateral ties. This came shortly after they met in the southeastern Polish city of Lublin along with their Lithuanian counterpart to mark the fifth anniversary of the “Lublin Triangle”. Sikorski’s closeness with Sibiga will therefore complicate any effort by Nawrocki to toughen Polish policy towards Ukraine.

Nawrocki would still do well to comment on this scandal in some capacity though for political reasons as explained. This would also justify whatever potentially forthcoming deadlock there might be over the future of Polish-Ukrainian ties under his leadership instead of ceding the narrative to Sikorski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who are expected to accuse him of playing politics if he maintains his promised stance towards Ukraine. The reality though is that Nawrocki has principled reasons for this approach.

Opposing the dispatch of Polish troops to Ukraine and its membership in NATO reduce the risk of World War III. As for his demands that Ukraine exhume and properly bury the Volhynia Genocide’s victims, he’s only asking it to do for them what it already did for over 100,000 Wehrmacht soldiers. Likewise, condemning the use of “Slava Ukraini” in the Sejm and Bodnar’s false comparison of it to “Niech żyje Polska” are similarly principled, which he’d do well to emphasize for patriotic and political reasons.