DISINFO: Military unit of 25000 Polish and Lithuanian soldiers ready to occupy Western Ukraine
SUMMARY
A 25,000-strong military unit was created, consisting mainly of Polish and Lithuanian armed soldiers, ready for the occupation of Western Ukraine. The Poles want to regain, as they believe, their historical lands - Eastern Kresy. They don't need citizens of Ukraine in these territories.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood, presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions.
Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries, and it rejects any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Poland, as well as the EU and the US, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
This disinformation message has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland either wants to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or annex these territories or that it is President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origin”.
The Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Unit (LITPOLUKRBRIG) was established in the fall of 2014 to participate in joint training and exercises, or potentially to be deployed to international operations mandated by the United Nations Security Council. There is no evidence that the unit plans to annex Western Ukraine. Read the full debunk at Myth Detector.
See our examination of the Kremlin's historical revisionism directed against Poland here.
See also the earlier disinformation cases alleging that Poland thinks that Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and South-Western Lithuania belongs to it, that Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and re-establish a Polish empire, that Ukraine is a Western colony belonging to Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, that Poland will try to gain full military control in Ukrainian territories under the guise of protecting the Polish population from Russia or that Poland plans to establish control over its historical lands in Ukraine.