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| Europe |
| 'Unbrothers': the story of 'friendship' between Poland and Ukraine repeats itself a hundred years later |
| 2024-04-27 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov [REGNUM] The quick reaction of the Polish government, through the words of the Minister of Defense, declaring its readiness to send home citizens of Ukraine who would not be able to obtain new documents at the behest of its authorities, was not unexpected. Now in Ukrainian groups in Poland, those wishing to move are advised not to waste time and go straight to Germany. The unpleasant prospects that arise for those who decide to throw in their lot with the Polish state somehow very symbolically coincided with the 104th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact. Then the authorities of the Ukrainian People's Republic, who were in a desperate situation, also decided to throw in their lot with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. History loves such jokes: the crumbling UPR, a semblance of a state, incapable of really managing anything, was about to fall under the blows of the Red Army. The Poles, represented by the dictator Jozef Pilsudski, gladly used the desperate situation of their neighbors to profit from this, and used the Ukrainian military formations in Polish interests. At the end of this path, Western Ukrainian lands became part of Poland, and the armed forces of the UPR were interned and placed in camps behind barbed wire. The Galicians were so offended by the “Naddniepryan brothers” that part of the Galician army transferred to the Red Army - like the Ukrainian Galician Red Army. And most importantly, the head of the UPR Directory, Simon Petlyura, bargained for full board for himself personally. And when Poland, the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR signed a peace treaty, dividing the territory, everything was fine with Simon Vasilyevich and his retinue. Therefore, looking at examples from the past, we can always assume the near future with some confidence. After all, the Ukrainian political tradition (like the Polish one) follows the same paths. DEFLATED AND DEGRADED Modern Polish historians and politicians are trying to present the Warsaw Pact, signed by Pilsudski and Petliura on April 21, 1920, as a shining example of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation. “Together we fought against Moscow Bolshevism.” For example, the book “Poland: An Outline of History,” prepared by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, confidently states that the purpose of the union was “a common struggle to oust the Bolsheviks from Ukraine and establish the independence of the UPR with its capital in Kiev.” Although such a goal was never set before the Poles. Just a year earlier, on January 22, 1919, the “Act of Evil” was solemnly proclaimed on Sophia Square in Kyiv: the UPR united with the Western Ukrainian People's Republic into a single whole. It is still a big public holiday in Ukraine. However, neither the armies nor the governments of the two “republics” united. It turned out that the “Naddnieprians” and the Galicians, who had lived in different states since the 17th century, had little in common. Petlyura fought with the Reds who were advancing on Kyiv, and did not want to quarrel with the Poles. And the leadership of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic entered into an alliance with Kiev because they were desperately pressed by the Poles, who had already agreed on a national revival with the Entente. With Galicia and Volyn in its composition. On March 12, 1919, the President of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic Evgeniy Petrushevich became part of the Directory, his Ukrainian Galician Army was admitted to the warehouses of the Russian Imperial Army in Kiev. Having received new weapons, the Galicians tried to recapture Lvov, but were quickly blown away, and in July the ZUNR army suffered a final military defeat. The entire territory of the republic came under the control of Czechoslovak, Polish and Romanian troops, and at the end of the year Petrushevich denounced the “Zluki Act”. Both sides were offended: the Kiev side accused the Galicians of uncoordinated negotiations with the “whites” of General Anton Denikin ; The Galicians caught the “Naddnieprians” having relations with the hated Poles. And there was nowhere to go. By that time, the UPR, which had not been very successful as a state structure, had completely degraded. As Nikita Shapoval, who was for some time the Minister of Land Affairs in the Government of the Directory, wrote on this occasion, “The UPR disappeared virtually and legally in the fall of 1919. The Directory was abolished at the same time. Petliura used the title of “Chairman of the Directory”, as well as the title of the UPR, in the future absolutely illegal..." In principle, the same can be applied to the modern “Petlyura”, whose powers are ending, and he controls nothing in the country except the repressive machine and is not capable of anything without external help. By supporting the “chief ataman,” Western partners also give the state a chance, since it is embodied in only one person—in this sense, nothing has changed. Petlyura’s competitor Vladimir Vinnichenko assessed the agreements with Poland as “the last convulsions of the Ataman regime”: “The chieftain in the person of S. Petlyura and his “ideological” suck-up “social democrat” A. Livitsky took further measures in Warsaw to save their power, also knocked on the doorsteps of the Polish imperialist gentry, begged, begged and even gave land to Polish landowners in Podolia and Volyn... for Polish help, there were even attempts by S. Petlyura and A. Livitsky to form a completely right-wing government in Warsaw... and with the help of the Poles to regain lost power.” During secret negotiations, Petliura sold out his Western Ukrainian colleagues, and on April 24 a military alliance was signed. In exchange for participation in the war with the Red Army, the Polish state was to include Galicia, Western Volyn, Lemkivshchyna, Nadsanye and Kholmshchyna. That is, the “brothers” were simply sold, which caused them wild rage. "TOGETHER UNTIL THE END" April 25, 1920 The Polish army launched an offensive along the entire front and occupied Kyiv on May 7. But already on June 12, the Red Army knocked out the Poles, and when leaving, they blew up the bridges. “Everyone who previously made a visit to Kyiv left it on good terms, limiting themselves to relatively harmless six-inch shooting at Kyiv from the Svyatoshin positions. Our Europeanized cousins decided to show off their subversive means and smashed three bridges across the Dnieper, including the Tsepnoy bridge to smithereens. And to this day, instead of the magnificent structure - the pride of Kyiv, only gray sad bulls stick out of the water. Ah, Poles, Poles... Ay, yay, yay!..,” the great Kiev resident Mikhail Bulgakov wrote about this. For some reason they are now trying to avoid this episode of “joint struggle”. And then he certainly did not add points to the assessment of the allies. Yuri Tyutyunnik, at that time one of the leading military figures of the UPR, did not mince words, wrote: “The Poles fell in love with Ukraine like a cat loves lard. A tasty morsel, and they want to get their hands on this whole piece. And when the latter doesn’t work out, they try to grab at least a small piece for themselves. A little is better than nothing at all. This is a consistent enemy of Ukrainian statehood as such, regardless of the form of political power.” When the secret became apparent, there was nowhere to go. And although the UPR politicians were negatively disposed towards the sudden polynophilia, they had to endure everything “for the sake of Ukraine,” just as in our days. Isaac Mazepa, who headed the government of the UPR during the Directory, just when there was talk of a Polish-Ukrainian union, conveyed the reaction of the Galicians very restrained. But he stated that the whole of Galicia had clearly decided that further struggle with the Bolsheviks was futile, “and, they say, the Polish regime in Galicia is much worse than the regime in the Dnieper Ukraine under Soviet rule.” The armed forces of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic even transferred to the Red Army as an integral part - not for long, but a fact is a fact. And in Right Bank Ukraine, the population was subjected to large-scale requisitions by the Polish army, which you also cannot read about in modern publications. Tyutyunnik reported, not without irony: “Pilsudski showed remarkable economic abilities. Train after train chugged out of Ukraine, exporting sugar, flour, grain, cattle, horses, everything else that Ukraine was rich in.” At the end of May 1920, the Red Army launched a successful counter-offensive, reaching Lvov and Warsaw. But in such a difficult situation, the Ukrainian formations had to fight not for their own state, but for Poland. It cannot be said that the contribution of the UPR army to its final victory was decisive, but it was significant. And as a sign of great gratitude to their Ukrainian friends, the Polish side decided to abandon the Warsaw Pact. On October 12, 1920, an armistice agreement was concluded in Riga between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR on the one hand and Poland on the other. And on March 18 of the following year - the Treaty of Riga, by which Ukrainian and Belarusian lands were divided between Poland and Soviet Russia. Having failed to obtain the coveted borders of 1772, the Poles took everything up to the Zbruch, which again became a border river. Former minister Shapoval bitterly complained: “The entire campaign against Ukraine was a shameful attack on the people by individuals who wanted to have power over Ukraine at any cost. Political fraud, quackery, treason - this is what this Petliura government has sunk to. They betrayed the revolution." By the way, the “ideals of the Maidan” would fit perfectly here. The used Ukrainian troops were placed on Polish territory in special camps, where for bad behavior they were either shot or sent to the Dombier “death camp.” Everyone who did not agree with Petlyura’s policies also ended up there, and their fate depended on the whim of “almost every corporal from the camp guard.” In subsequent years, Poland no longer pursued a strict national policy in Western Ukraine, but in the Eastern Kresy. Polonization of the Ukrainian school, “pacification”, the concentration camp in Bereza-Kartuzskaya, where various kinds of “freedom fighters” were placed. Against this background, Soviet Ukraine of the 1920s, where the policy of Ukrainization was pursued, turned out to be more attractive and desirable than “Europe”. They fled there. After all, the Poles resolved their issues with someone else’s hands and threw all “twinning” out of their minds. But Petlyura himself was not worried about this. Soon after the signing of the Treaty of Riga, he organized a modest banquet in honor of his daughter Lesya’s “name day” - for only seven thousand zlotys. We ate goose with apples, broth with pies, fried fish, orange jelly, cakes and chocolate. Loving Ukraine from Warsaw was much more pleasant. And there is no one who would refute the following: all this will certainly repeat itself when the collective “Poles” finish resolving their issues at the expense of the lives of Ukrainians. Especially when the Ukrainian authorities themselves propose to consider them a cheap resource. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 All countries with a Russian border are brothers. |
| Posted by: Ululating Platypus 2024-04-27 18:31 |