Roman Sheremeta
June 21, 2026
Some are asking why now. Why is Ukraine renaming military units in honor of UPA heroes? Why is President Zelenskyy elevating them at this moment?
The answer is simple. There is no better moment than now.
The UPA – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army – fought for the same thing Ukraine is fighting for today. Independence. Survival. The right of a Ukrainian state to exist. They fought Nazi Germany. They fought Soviet russia. Some of them fought against Polish occupation, because parts of Ukraine had been under Polish rule for centuries before 1939.
Despite all odds, they fought because the alternative was annihilation.
Eighty years later, Ukraine is fighting that same war against the same enemy, with the same alternative. Russian missiles are killing Ukrainian civilians tonight. Russian forces are trying to erase Ukrainian existence as a nation. Ukrainian soldiers are dying every day in a struggle the UPA would have recognized immediately.
This is not the wrong moment to honor the heroes of the past. This is the only moment when we fully understand who they were and what they were fighting for.
Glory to Ukraine.
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A world renowned historian Timothy Snyder, in a recent interview with Newsweek Polska, offered a warning that Poland’s leaders would do well to heed.
“The war of memory is much more comfortable for Polish politicians than the real war,” Snyder said.
“They can say: we are right, we are innocent, I know history. But one must begin with what is happening now, not with memory. If you skip that, you start with a lie.”
On the controversy over Ukraine’s honoring of the UPA, Snyder cautioned against judging such decisions without context: “To judge Zelensky’s decision to name a unit after the UPA without the context of almost four and a half years of war would be a mistake. This is the longest war of this century, longer than the First World War. It produces emotions that are difficult for the West to understand.”
He also noted that Ukrainians and Poles remember different chapters of the same history: “Ukrainians think about the UPA mainly through its third phase, the struggle against the Red Army after 1945. Poles remember the first phase: 1943, when the UPA killed tens of thousands of Poles in Volhynia. The mistake is to forget the rest of the history.”
And his sharpest warning should concern everyone: “On the battlefield, Russia will lose. In Warsaw and Kyiv, Russia will win the war of memory.”
Stripping President Zelensky of Poland’s highest honor was not an act of wisdom. It was an emotional response that elevated historical grievance over present reality. Ukraine is fighting the longest war of this century, and Poland’s security depends on its survival. To turn an ally into an adversary over unresolved history serves neither truth nor justice – it serves only Moscow. That is the trap Snyder named.
The war of memory cannot be won. It can only be exploited – and there is one power waiting to exploit it.
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Ukraine continues to impose fiery sanctions on russia.
Today, the Kerch seaport was set ablaze following a massive strike by Ukraine’s Defense Forces. Fires were also reported at facilities in Port Kavkaz in the Kerch Strait and at military unit No. 98546.
In response, occupation governor Aksyonov announced:
“Crimea has run out of gasoline — fuel sales at gas stations have been completely suspended, both for cash and non-cash payments.”
Former Ukrainian Presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko have renounced Poland’s Order of the White Eagle.
Earlier, Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked the decoration awarded to Volodymyr Zelensky, citing the naming of a Special Operations Forces unit after “UPA heroes.”
In response, President Zelensky returned the award to Nawrocki, sending it back via Nova Poshta.
“The UPA – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army – fought for the same thing Ukraine is fighting for today. Independence. Survival. The right of a Ukrainian state to exist. They fought Nazi Germany. They fought Soviet russia. Some of them fought against Polish occupation, because parts of Ukraine had been under Polish rule for centuries before 1939.”
Do those fucktards get it now?