Three quarters of Ukrainians have a better opinion of Poles since Russian invasion

Over 80% of Ukrainians have a great or excellent opinion of Poles, and nearly say three quarters say that their view of Poles has improved since Russia’s invasion, amid an outpouring of assist for Ukraine from Poland’s authorities and society.

The examine – carried out by Data Sapiens, a Ukrainian analysis institute, for the Mieroszewski Centre, a Polish public physique – additionally requested Ukrainians in regards to the two nations’ tough World Battle Two historical past. It discovered views that the centre’s deputy director admits “could also be disappointing for Poles”.

Within the survey, nearly half of respondents (46%) mentioned their opinion of Poles now was “excellent” and an additional 37% mentioned it was “good”. In the meantime, 15% had a impartial view and fewer than 1% a unfavourable one.

Some 73% of Ukrainians mentioned their view of Poles had improved for the higher, and only one% that it had worsened, with 23% saying it had not modified. Compared, simply 29% mentioned they now thought higher of Germans, whereas 88% had a worse opinion of Russians.

Requested which phrase greatest described their view of Poles, the preferred solutions have been “neighbours” (54%), “allies” (52%) and “pals” (49%). Over a 3rd (36%) could be concerned with studying Polish if given the possibility.

The survey additionally requested in regards to the historical past of the 2 nations, which has often been an area of tension.

In the course of the Second World Battle, round 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians have been killed by Ukrainian nationalists in an ethnic cleaning operation referred to as the Volhynia massacres. Earlier than the struggle, ethnic Ukrainians in Poland had confronted repression.

Requested about what function Poles had performed in Ukraine’s historical past, 33% of respondents mentioned it had been “primarily optimistic” whereas an additional 38% mentioned that it was “unfavourable as much as the Second World Battle after which primarily optimistic”. Solely 8% answered “primarily unfavourable”.

Nonetheless, concerning the Volhynia massacres, solely 5% of respondents agreed that it was ethnic cleansing carried out on the orders of the Ukrainian Rebel Military (UPA). An extra 9% described it as “the homicide of Poles carried out by some UPA models towards the orders of the UPA management”.

In the meantime, 27% noticed it as a reciprocal struggle between the Polish and Ukrainian underground armies that resulted in each Polish and Ukrainian civilian deaths. An extra 9% noticed it as reciprocal homicide of Polish and Ukrainian peasants and eight% as an motion by the Polish underground towards Ukrainians, who needed to defend themselves.

In contrast, in Poland a 2018 ballot by SW Analysis for Rzeczpospolita discovered that 72% of Poles regard the massacres as genocide. Two years earlier, Poland’s parliament had handed a decision recognising it as such.

Within the new survey of Ukrainians, 24% of respondents mentioned they might not settle for Polish calls for to exhume former Polish villages and erect memorials stating that inhabitants have been killed by the UPA. Over half (53%), nonetheless, mentioned they might agree so long as comparable plaques have been positioned on the graves of Ukrainian victims of the Polish underground.

Łukasz Adamski, deputy director of the Mieroszewski Centre, famous that these outcomes “could also be disappointing for Poles”, as they point out that the majority Ukrainians don’t “consider what skilled Polish and Western historians say” in regards to the Volyhnia massacres. There’s nonetheless “a lot to be accomplished” on this concern, he informed information web site Interia.

Nonetheless, Adamski consider that total “the outcomes of the survey are extremely optimistic”. They “present that Ukrainians are extraordinarily pleasant in the direction of Poles, and subsequently verify that there’s fertile floor for intensifying relations between the 2 nations and nations in future”.

The Mieroszewski Centre (which was till this 12 months referred to as the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding) is a public establishment working for dialogue with jap European nations.

The survey was carried out between 11 and 15 August on a consultant of 1,036 Ukrainian adults utilizing Pc-Assisted Phone Interviewing. The pattern didn’t embody Ukrainians who’ve left the nation or these residing in Crimea or different Russian-occupied areas not coated by Ukrainian cellular operators.

Major picture credit score: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Initially from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.