Ukrainian and Polish presidents meet in western Lutsk to honor Volyn massacre victims

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda met in Lutsk on Sunday, 9 July, on an unexpected visit. 

Zelenskyy and Duda visited the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne reports. 

The leaders met up to commemorate the victims of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia (Volyn) massacre.

Together, we honor all the innocent victims of Volyn (Massacre). Memory unites us! Together we are stronger!" Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that this July, Ukraine, and Poland would hold a series of joint events to honor the victims of the Volyn tragedy.

On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki paid tribute to the victims in the now-defunct village of Ostruvky in Ukraine's Volyn region.

The Volyn massacre has been subjected to disputes for years. Polish side states the members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the military wing of Ukrainian Nationalists, massacred thousands of Poles in Nazi-occupied Poland in the spring and summer of 1943.

Poles also killed some Ukrainians in retaliation. Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, estimates that the number of Ukrainians killed may vary between 15,000 and 30,000, while the estimates for the Polish victims vary between 60,000 and 90,000.