Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument Vandalized with Pro-UPA Slogans
Warsaw's Ghetto Uprising Monument and a Polish army memorial were vandalized with pro-UPA graffiti in an incident officials attribute to a broader campaign of Russian hybrid warfare.
Two prominent monuments in Warsaw's Muranów district were vandalized with red spray paint, bearing the slogan "Glory to the UPA" in an incident condemned by local and international authorities. The targeted sites include the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument, located near the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and a memorial dedicated to the soldiers of the First Army of the Polish People's Army. Warsaw police spokesperson Bartłomiej Śniadada confirmed that two formal complaints were filed and preliminary investigative steps are underway, though no arrests have been made regarding the capital incidents.
The Jewish Historical Institute in Poland strongly denounced the desecration, characterizing it as a shameful attack on the memory of Holocaust victims and Jewish resistance fighters. According to the institute, similar acts of vandalism have been documented across eleven different monuments in four Polish cities in recent weeks. The Ukrainian Embassy in Poland also addressed the incidents, labeling them a provocation orchestrated as part of Russian hybrid warfare designed to sow discord between Ukrainians and Poles, undermine mutual trust, and weaken international support for Ukraine.
Background on the Slogan and Wider Vandalism
The painted phrase "Slava UPA" refers to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist military organization that operated during and after World War II. In Poland, the group is historically associated with the Volhynia massacres between 1943 and 1945, making the slogan a deeply sensitive historical issue. Investigations by independent media outlets, including the Belarusian portal Most, revealed that unknown actors used Telegram to recruit individuals, offering financial compensation in cash or cryptocurrencies to carry out the vandalism acts.
These events follow a string of similar occurrences across Poland, including vandalized monuments in Gdynia, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Local broadcaster TVN24 reported that a 17-year-old Ukrainian teenager was arrested in Gdańsk and faced seven charges related to spray-painting memorials in Gdańsk and Gdynia. However, law enforcement officials have not yet confirmed whether the same suspects or coordinated networks are responsible for all nationwide incidents.
