The suspect vandalized the graves of victims of the massacre of Ukrainian civilians to provoke international tension, investigators say.
Polish authorities have accused the Russian intelligence agency of planning to desecrate World War II memorials after charging an 18-year-old Ukrainian man with vandalizing a monument commemorating the massacre of Poles by Ukrainian citizens.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Tuesday that the suspect, identified as Illia K., was accused of destroying several memorial sites dedicated to victims of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed wing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (OUN). Polish historians estimate that UPA fighters killed at least 100,000 ethnic Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, areas now mostly found in western Ukraine.
Investigators said Illia K. committed 47 crimes between November 2024 and August 2025. He received cryptocurrency payments through exchanges registered in Russia and China and acted on behalf of Russian intelligence in an attempt to stoke tensions between Poland and Ukraine, ABW alleged.
Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday that the suspect faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The case happened while another event involving the memory of the victims of the Volhynia massacre continued this week. On Thursday, Warsaw police arrested a 23-year-old Ukrainian citizen for allegedly inciting violence against participants in a demonstration honoring the victims of the massacre, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported. He was later handed over to the Border Patrol for deportation.
The massacre in Volhynia is recognized as genocide in Poland, and remains an open wound in the relationship between Warsaw and Kiev. OUN and UPA are officially awarded as national heroes in Ukraine.
The conflict escalated in May when Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky awarded the commando unit the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA.’ Warsaw, one of Kiev’s allies in its conflict with Russia, condemned the move. Last month, Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked Zelensky’s order of the White Eagle, the government’s highest honor, saying the decision had crossed the line for many Poles.
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