In brief: Unidentified individuals spray-painted “Slava UPA” in red paint on two Warsaw monuments – including the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes outside the POLIN Museum – among 13 monuments vandalized across Poland over the past week. Local outlets noted that Telegram channels offered $500 for the graffiti, prompting the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw to condemn the act as a Russian hybrid warfare provocation aimed at sowing enmity between Ukrainians and Poles and to warn citizens against online recruitment.
Unidentified individuals spray-painted “Slava UPA” (Glory to the UPA) in red paint on two historical monuments in Warsaw, including the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes outside the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Polish media reported on Saturday, Nov. 14, that the vandalism occurred in Warsaw’s Muranów district, targeting both the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes and a monument to a soldier of the First Polish Army on the Square of Political Prisoners of Stalinism.
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According to Polskie Radio, similar inscriptions have appeared on 11 other monuments across Poland over the past week.
Local media reported that anonymous accounts on the Telegram messaging platform offered payments of $500 to individuals willing to spray-paint the slogans.
Ukrainian Embassy responds to the vandalism
In an official statement, the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw condemned the incident, characterizing it as a deliberate attempt by Russian intelligence services to undermine bilateral relations.
“The Embassy condemns this shameful provocation, as well as any manifestations of vandalism, desecration of monuments, and similar actions,” the diplomatic mission stated, describing the vandalism as a manifestation of Russia’s hybrid war across European states.
“The goal is obvious – to sow enmity between Ukrainians and Poles, undermine mutual trust, and weaken support for Ukraine. We must honor the memory of the past with dignity, including the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto, and take all possible measures to prevent such vandalism in the future,” the embassy emphasized.
The mission also issued an urgent warning to Ukrainian citizens residing in Poland, urging them to remain vigilant on social media and messaging apps and to reject offers of quick cash in exchange for spray-painting slogans, damaging property, or carrying out other unlawful tasks.
Russian hybrid operations in Poland
The monument vandalism unfolds amid an intensified campaign of Russian-backed espionage, arson, and sabotage across Poland, which has served as a frontline NATO member and the primary logistics hub for Western assistance to Ukraine.
Earlier in November, Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) arrested six individuals – five Polish citizens and one Russian woman – accused of smuggling 2 million zlotys ($511,000) worth of restricted ammunition and weapons components into Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
According to Polish Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, nearly 100 individuals have been named suspects in espionage or sabotage investigations in Poland since January 2024.
Recent probes have examined suspected foreign intelligence links to a September fire at a Starlink ground station in central Poland and an August blaze at a Polish factory producing components for Ukrainian and Polish military drones.
In October, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned that Russian hybrid operations across Europe have escalated to include assassinations, arson attacks, and an attempted train bombing, while Polish police deployed counterterrorism units to the northeastern border near Kaliningrad in early November following intelligence alerts of potential cross-border sabotage.
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