When naming AFU center in honor of UPA, Defense Ministry took into account environmental risks and ignored diplomatic ones
The text of the explanatory note to the draft Decree of the President of Ukraine "On assigning an honorary name to the Separate Special Operations Center "North" of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" signed by the Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov notes that when preparing the initiative to assign the name of the center "after the Heroes of the UPA [Ukrainian Insurgent Army - ed.] " economic and environmental risks were calculated, but there is no mention of interaction with the Ukrainian diplomatic corps. This is stated in the documents provided by the Office of the President of Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian News Agency.
"The implementation of the Decree does not envisage any impact on <…> the ecology and the environment, the volume of natural resources, the level of pollution of atmospheric air, water, land, in particular pollution by generated waste, other social relations," the Minister of Defense notes in an explanatory note.
The Office of the President also reported that the Ministry of Defense appealed to the Institute of National Remembrance regarding the initiative. The response letter states that the Institute supports awarding the military unit of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "named after the Heroes of the UPA".
At the same time, according to the documents provided, representatives of the Ministry of Defense did not appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to assess the risks of such a step in the international arena.
As is known, the presidential decree on awarding the Special Operations Center the title "named after the Heroes of the UPA" provoked an international scandal. In response to this move, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced the stripping of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the country's highest award, the Order of the White Eagle. The Polish Foreign Ministry also stated that the title "Heroes of the UPA" for the Special Operations Center's unit harms the dialogue with Ukraine.