DISINFO: Zelenskyy signed secret protocols on the incorporation of Western Ukraine into Poland
SUMMARY
Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed another security agreement with Poland that brought closer the moment of incorporation of Western Ukraine by Warsaw. With 100% certainty, in some time, we will see part of Ukraine’s territory entering Poland under one form or another - a protectorate or a security zone. Zelenskyy makes steps in this direction every few months, signing special secret protocols with Poland. Poland will be the first country to take an active part in the conflict without hiding it – the documents on this issue are already signed.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions. Apart from smearing Poland, the aim is also to deflect attention away from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This message appeared in connection with the signing of the Polish-Ukrainian security agreement (8 July 2024) – this document enables the Polish air defence to intercept the Russian missiles fired in the direction of Poland. Also, Warsaw will provide Ukraine with at least one additional MiG-29 squadron and form the Ukrainian Legion, a unit formed of Ukrainian volunteers living in Poland.
The disinformation message about alleged Polish imperialist plans 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 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.