POLAND has demanded that Ukraine acknowledges the mass killing of Poles by nationalists during the second world war as “ethnic cleansing” after refusing an invitation for a joint commemoration.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said the Ukrainian government must recognise the Volhynia massacres, during which thousands of Polish citizens were killed by Stepan Bandera’s Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), in order for the countries to “move forward.”

He visited Ukraine to mark the 75th anniversary of the massacre yesterday, attending a commemorative mass at the St Peter and Paul Cathedral in the city of Luck, where he presented a cross dedicated to the memory of the murdered Poles to the local bishop.