Poland accuses Italian newspaper of spreading “Russian disinformation” that Warsaw wants west Ukraine

Poland's embassy in Rome has written to leading Italian daily Libero rejecting the newspaper's report that “Warsaw has long claimed parts of western Ukraine”. It notes that such claims are part of “Russian disinformation” designed to create divisions between Poland and Ukraine.

Last Thursday, in an article on Russia's war in Ukraine, Libero wrote that “Kyiv must be wary of some allies”, pointing in particular to Poland.

It noted that the new Polish president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, has called on Ukraine to tackle “historical issues” such as the legacy of the Volhynia massacres in World War Two, during which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians.

“Moreover, Warsaw has long claimed parts of western Ukraine, especially the Lviv area,” added the Italian newspaper.

Much of what is now western Ukraine was, before the war, part of Poland. That included Lviv, which was previously the Polish city of Lviv.

However, as part of the postwar settlement, Poland's borders shifted westwards. Its former eastern lands became part of the Soviet Union (and are now in Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania) while Poland was given former German territories in the north and west.

While many Poles still have a sentimental attachment to the former eastern “borderlands” ( kresy ) – and to the million or so ethnic Poles who still live there – no government or political party of any note has sought to claim them back.

On Friday, Poland's foreign ministry announced that the embassy in Rome had “intervened in the matter of an article in the Libero newspaper, which wrote that Poland lays claim to western Ukraine.”

“We indicated that such a claim is an element of Russian disinformation,” wrote the ministry.

Russian-linked propaganda has often sought to spread the idea that Poland wants to reclaim its former lands from Ukraine, and that it may take advantage of the current war to do so.

In 2022, for example, a fake letter – made to look like it was sent by the Polish embassy in Kyiv – was circulated on social media claiming that Poland was surveying Ukrainians to find out if they want to become part of Poland

In 2023, Vladimir Putin himself claimed that Poland is “hatching revanchist plans” to “deploy troops in the western territories of Ukraine”, where they would “remain forever”. He also said that, in the past, Poland had “suppressed national cultures and Orthodox [Christianity]” in those territories.

On Friday last week, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) obtained a copy of the letter written to Libero's editor-in-chief, Mario Sechi, by the head of Poland's embassy in Rome, Ryszard Schnepf.

The diplomat said that the newspaper's claim had caused “shock and exasperation” in Poland, which “clearly supports a sovereign Ukraine within its internationally recognized – i.e. pre-2014 – borders”.

Warsaw, both under the current and former government, has been one of Ukraine's closest allies, providing extensive military, humanitarian and diplomatic support.

“A sentimental attitude towards the areas where Poles lived before World War Two and where they conducted economic, cultural and educational activities does not mean that these lands are expected to be incorporated into Poland,” added Schnepf.

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