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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
In a speech marking the 85th anniversary of the Katyn massacre – in which the Soviet Union murdered 22,000 Poles during World War Two – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that the “same evil” is behind Russian atrocities now taking place in Ukraine, such as yesterday’s missile attack on Sumy.
“There are no words or definitions to [help us] understand the enormity and senselessness of the [Katyn] crime,” said Tusk on Sunday 13 April, which is Poland’s official Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Katyn Massacre.
💬 Premier @DonaldTusk 👇
Składając hołd ofiarom Zbrodni Katyńskiej, jesteśmy razem także po to, aby przestrzec nas samych, cały świat oraz przyszłe pokolenia przed tym, że nie można być bezsilnym wobec zła, kłamstwa i agresji. pic.twitter.com/IcpvOZoM4E
— Kancelaria Premiera (@PremierRP) April 13, 2025
“This sacrifice is not only an extremely significant lesson of history, but a lesson that we must listen to today with particular sensitivity, because the evil that was the source of this crime still lurks around us,” he continued.
“In the city of Sumy, Russian missiles fell on those praying, on those going to mass, a few hours ago,” continued Tusk, referring to yesterday morning’s Russian attack, which took place as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday. At least 34 people were killed.
“Their deaths were just as tragic [as Katyn], because they were caused by the same evil,” declared the Polish prime minister. “If we talk about the lesson of Katyn, we must speak with full conviction, faith and determination that we will never succumb to lies and false propaganda.”
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In 1940, around 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia, who had been taken prisoner following the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, were murdered in mass extrajudicial executions. The plan had been proposed by Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet secret police, and approved by Joseph Stalin.
When the mass graves were discovered in 1943 by Nazi Germany, the Soviets rejected demands for an international investigation and blamed the Germans for the crime. That remained their official position until 1990, when Moscow finally acknowledged responsibility for the massacres.
However, revisionism about Katyn – like other Soviet crimes – has remained strong in Russia, and has often received endorsement from the authorities. In 2020, a plaque commemorating the site of thousands of the Katyn killings was removed, after local prosecutors argued that it “does not reflect the truth”.
Speaking on Sunday to mark the Katyn anniversary, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the crime “was a genocide, because an important part of the Polish elite was deliberately murdered”.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda w #Kraków: Sowieci z zimną krwią zamordowali ponad 22 tysiące polskich oficerów – żołnierzy, którzy bronili swojej Ojczyzny. Na polecenie Stalina dokonano brutalnej rzezi. To było ludobójstwo. Zdołano ich zamordować, ale nigdy nie zdołano ich wydrzeć z…
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) April 13, 2025
Poland’s government yesterday condemned Russia’s bombing of Sumy. “The attack on civilians on Palm Sunday shows that Russia’s goal is not peace, but the destruction of the Ukrainian nation,” wrote the foreign ministry.
Tweeting in English, Tusk also wrote: “The Russian version of a ceasefire. Bloody Palm Sunday, Sumy”, followed by a Ukrainian flag and a black heart.
Other Western leaders have also condemned the attack, with Germany’s incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz calling it “a deliberate and calculated war crime”.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, wrote on social media that the “Palm Sunday attack by Russian forces on civilian targets in Sumy crosses any line of decency…It is why President Trump is working hard to end this war”.
The Russian version of a ceasefire. Bloody Palm Sunday, Sumy UA🇺🇦🖤
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) April 13, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
