“We would expect truth to be told and things to be called by their proper name,” Bochenek said.

Seeing as Ukraine has been fighting so hard for the Holodomor to be recognized internationally as genocide, I should think they would be understanding of this cause.

Of course, as we’ve seen countless times, it tends to take decades, or even centuries, for political leaders to express regret for the past actions of their state. And now, in the middle of war, might be an especially difficult time for Ukraine to approach the subject at all. Certainly Zelenskyy is distracted. Moreover, both Ukraine and Poland were victims of the Nazi agenda here, albeit one more than the other in this particular instance.

Poland says the 1943-44 massacre of some 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists was genocide. Entire villages were burned down and all their inhabitants killed by nationalists and their helpers who sought to establish an independent Ukraine state. The killings took place in Volhynia and in other regions of what was then eastern Poland under Nazi German and then Soviet occupation, and which are now in western Ukraine.

I can see how it would be hard to admit to such atrocities, but that does not mean they shouldn’t do so, if true (which I’m inclined to believe, but of course there should be evidence). Especially in these times of having tighter ties with Poland and other neighbors, Ukraine should acknowledge instances in its own history which have not been for the greater good.

More info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia

Note: I have some biases in this as I am an American whose heritage largely comes from the Galicia region.