Presidents of Ukraine and Poland commemorate Poles massacred by Ukrainian nationalists during World War IIwhich had been a source of tension between the allied countries.

Warsaw today ranks among Kiev’s staunchest supporters after Russia invades the country in 2022.

However, the Volhynia massacre, 80 years ago, in which, according to historians, tens of thousands of Poles perished, econtinued to preoccupy relations between the two countrieswhich became more felt in the run-up to the anniversary of July 11, one of the bloodiest days in a series of assassinations that took place from 1943 to 1945.

Television footage broadcast today showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesny and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda attending a memorial service for the victims of the massacre at a church in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk this morning.

Polish historians claim that up to 12,000 Ukrainians were killed also in Polish reprisal operations.

“Together we pay tribute to all the innocent victims of Volimnia! Memory unites us!” Duda’s office wrote on Twitter. “Together we are stronger.”

The massacre sparked an unusually public row between Poland and Ukraine earlier this yearafter a representative of the Polish Foreign Ministry had stated that Zelenskiy should apologize and apologize for the events in Volhynia.

However, Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk sought to de-escalate tensions in May, when he told the Polish parliament that Kiev understands Poland’s pain.

On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited western Ukraine to pay tribute to the victims.

The Polish parliament reported that the murders, committed between 1943 and 1945 by the Ukrainian Revolutionary Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists led by Stepan Bandera, bore evidence of genocide.

Ukraine has not accepted this claim and often refers to the events in Volhynia as part of a conflict between Poland and Ukraine that affected both nations.