On July 10 Verkhovna Rada adopted the final text of a joint Verkhovna Rada-Sejm parliamentary statement commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Volyn tragedy. 227 people’s deputies out of 423 registered in attendance voted for the text coordinated with the Poles, without any changes; there were only five nays. Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said he had twice been in touch with Polish Speaker Marek Borowski who insisted on approving the coordinated text without any changes. Mr. Borowski said the Polish side had more textual changes to suggest and that some of those changes would be unacceptable to the Ukrainian side. Mr. Lytvyn informed the deputies that President Leonid Kuchma had requested the parliament approve the text. The speaker suggested that the people’s deputies make a “reasonable choice” as both “politicians and statesmen.” That same day Leonid Kuchma met with deputies of the Rivne and Volyn regional councils (among those present were deputies Borys Zahrava, Volodymyr Bondar, Kateryna Vashchuk, Ihor Yukhnovsky, Volodymyr Cherniak, Vasyl Chervony, and Mykola Zhulynsky). He said that Ukraine would assess the Volyn tragedy, proceeding from its national interests as well as the imperative of mutual reconciliation, to further Ukrainian-Polish cooperation, Interfax Ukraine was told by the President’s Press Secretary Olena Hromnytska.
As the text was put to a vote in Verkhovna Rada, the people’s deputies voted down Hennady Udovenko’s proposal to amend the text with an amendment to the effect that what had happened in Volyn was an equally tragic event for both the Ukrainian and Polish people. “Unless we put this truth on record, we will commit an act of injustice,” declared the former foreign minister. SDPU(O) leader Leonid Kravchuk said before the vote in parliament that the statement at issue would be hard for the people’s deputies, but that it had to be adopted in order to preserve friendly Ukrainian-Polish relations. He believed that the text should also refer to the sixtieth anniversary as one marking a tragedy for both the Ukrainian and Polish population. “We cannot approve a statement damaging Ukrainian national dignity,” said the first President of Ukraine. Democratic Initiatives leader Stepan Havrysh also spoke for amending the text, specifically with regard to responsibility on the part of the Nazi occupation authorities. Lawmakers of the Regions of Ukraine, PPPU-Labor Ukraine, Power of the People, and European Choice said they would vote for the statement. Agrarian faction leader Kateryna Vashchuk said the Ukrainian and Polish sides had to coordinate their stand, so that the text of the statement would reflect the equality of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples.
Socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz urged adjourning the vote to coordinate various factions’ stands. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said his faction had decided to use the free vote option. Mr. Yushchenko added that one should proceed from the fact that Ukraine actually needed to uphold its partnership with Poland, but that it was also necessary to honor the memory of the dead. A large part of Our Ukraine refused to support the statement text. Even when discussing it prior to the vote, it was opposed by the Communist and Batkivshchyna factions. The Communist view was voiced by Deputy Mishura who said that neither the Ukrainian nor Polish people was involved in or with the tragedy, blaming “certain political forces” and stressing that those forces should exchange apologies. Yuliya Tymoshenko declared that the very idea of approving the text could serve to disunite the two peoples, and that friendly relations are established not when there is pressure on either side.
