Zelenskyy said on Friday that he held a meeting with his top officials and laid out several “key steps”, including plans to allow further exhumations of Polish victims who were killed in the 1940s by Ukrainian nationalists. Tensions between the two countries escalated in recent weeks following Zelenskyy’s decision to name a special forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) – a nationalist organization that played a central role in the massacres of up to 100,000 Poles. The Ukrainian leader said that Ukraine’s security and intelligence services would open archives concerning the “tragic” events. He also said that a “substantial” number of permits for further exhumations of victims of the World War II-era killings would be granted. Excavation work to recover the bodies of Polish victims on what is today Ukrainian soil began last year after Warsaw and Kyiv reached an agreement following years of disputes. Zelenskyy said that new formats for expanding dialogue between Ukraine and Poland were also discussed on Friday, and that he tasked the head of Ukraine’s Institute of National Remembrance to expand the body’s capabilities regarding the matter. The Ukrainian head of state said: “The priorities are clear: all of us in Europe need good-neighborly, equal, and mutually beneficial relations built on respect. “Poland provided significant support to Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and we are grateful to Poland. Defending Ukraine’s independence directly means strengthening Poland’s independence,” he added. Tensions over shared history Zelenskyy’s recent decision to name a special forces unit after the UPA prompted Polish President Karol Nawrocki last month to strip the Ukrainian leader of the Order of the White Eagle – Poland’s highest state decoration. The move prompted tit-for-tat diplomatic blows between Kyiv and Warsaw, with European officials calling on both sides to deescalate tensions. Poland has long classified the massacres of Poles in the 1940s as acts of genocide. Ukraine disputes this, instead framing the killings as part of a Ukrainian struggle for an independent state during a time when Ukrainian populations were split between the territories of Poland and the Soviet Union. Although Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest backers in its defense against Russia’s war, public backing for state assistance for Ukrainian refugees in Poland has flagged in recent years, while anti-Ukrainian sentiment has been fueled by elements of Poland’s far right.