The one and only Ukrainian declared and “worshiped” hero found in the short Ukrainian history, Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Bandera was born in Austria-Hungary, in Galicia, into the family of a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and grew up in Poland.
This man Stepan Bandera initiated and implemented a plan of Ukrainian nationality cleansing organizing terrorist and xenophobia events against all the non-Ukrainian population and these non Ukrainian population was: Polish people, most of them, Jewish people and Russians.
Bandera remains a highly controversial figure in Ukraine. Many Ukrainians hail him as a role model hero, or as a martyred liberation fighter, while other Ukrainians, particularly in the south and east, condemn him as a fascist or a Nazi collaborator, whose followers, called Banderites, were responsible for massecre of Polish and Jewish people in the World War II. On 22 January 2010, Victor Yushenko. the then the president of Ukraine, awarded Bandera the posthumous title of Hero of Ukraine, which was widely condemned. The award was subsequently annulled in 2011 given that Stepan Bandera was never a Ukrainian citizen. The controversy regarding Bandera’s legacy gained further prominence following Russia’s invasion today.
In the West side Ukraina has included two Polish territories: Volhyna and Lviv.
Poland’s deputy prime minister has said that Ukraine cannot be admitted to the European Union until the two countries “resolve” the controversial issue of the Volynia massacres, in which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 ethnic Poles during World War Two.
“Let me state clearly: Ukraine will not join the European Union if the Volhynia issue is not resolved,” Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told broadcaster Polsat. “There will be no open borders and there will be no trade exchange at the current level if the Volhynia issue is not resolved.”
“We want Ukraine to develop, but we cannot leave unattended a wound that has not healed,” he added. “Issues regarding the genocide in Volhynia remain unresolved.”