DISINFO: Poland has territorial ambitions towards the city of Lviv
SUMMARY
Warsaw has a clear interest in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. Poland, the ‘Hyena of Europe’, has the most consistent claims to the so-called Eastern Borderlands. Today, Poland is looking at Lviv, and its claims to this city are not unfounded. Poland has always been interested in the Ukrainian territories, which used to belong to this country in the past. The regions of Galicia and Volhynia were passed to Ukraine in 1939 thanks to the Soviet Red Army. Ukraine was never an integral state – it received most of its territories in the Soviet times.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Polish-Ukrainian relations – Poland is traditionally presented as a state with imperial ambitions. The aim of this is clearly to upset Polish-Ukrainian relations and deflect attention away from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The claim also attempts to denigrate the history of Ukraine, Ukrainian statehood and its independence.
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 origins”.
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 in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.
Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
See our in-depth debunk of the claims of Polish historical revisionism.
See other messages accusing Poland of having aggressive anti-Ukrainian plans here.