In brief

• Unknown people sprayed "Slava UPA" in red paint on two monuments in Warsaw's Muranów district on Saturday, 14 November 2026.
• The inscriptions appeared on a monument to 1st Polish Army soldiers and on the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto near the POLIN museum.
• Police confirmed two reports and are investigating; the Ukrainian embassy called the act a Russian hybrid-war provocation.
• Similar slogans were recently found in Poznań, Gdynia and Gdańsk, and a Telegram ad reportedly offered 500 dollars for such graffiti.

Two monuments defaced in central Warsaw

The slogan appeared on the plinth of the monument to a soldier of the 1st Polish Army at the Square of Stalinist Political Prisoners, about 150 metres from the Warsaw police headquarters, according to reports from the scene (Dwa warszawskie pomniki zdewastowane. Policja bada sprawę – Onet). A second inscription, identical in wording and carried out in red spray paint, was found on the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto beside the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (У Польщі з’явилися написи "Слава УПА" на пам’ятниках: підозрюють російську провокацію – TSN) ("Слава УПА" червоним спреєм: у Варшаві невідомі розмалювали два пам'ятники – Espreso). Police in the capital confirmed that they received two reports of damage to the monuments and are carrying out initial investigative steps (У Варшаві невідомі залишили на двох пам‘ятниках написи "Слава УПА" – Європейська правда). No other damage was reported at the square.

Link to a wider pattern

The incidents follow similar slogans found in recent days on monuments in Poznań, Gdynia and Gdańsk („Slava UPA” na pomniku żołnierzy 1. Armii Wojska Polskiego w Warszawie. Kolejny akt wandalizmu – Rzeczpospolita). In Gdynia, three memorial objects were marked with the same phrase. A Belarusian outlet reported that an anonymous Telegram advertisement offered 500 dollars for painting the slogan on a monument in Poznań, and that similar offers were also circulating for Warsaw, Wrocław and Lublin. The person who posted the offer admitted that the task was illegal.

Reactions

The Ukrainian embassy in Poland condemned the act as a "shameful provocation" and as an example of Russian hybrid warfare aimed at setting Poles and Ukrainians against each other and weakening support for Ukraine (Посольство України назвало написи "Слава УПА" в Польщі проявом гібридної війни РФ – Українська правда). It called on Polish authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible, and urged Ukrainians in Poland not to accept "easy money" for such tasks. Dariusz Stola, former director of the POLIN museum, said the line had been crossed, most likely with Russian inspiration and funding, noting that the monument had gone untouched for decades even while antisemitism existed in Poland.

Investigation status

As of Saturday, investigators had not established who was behind the inscriptions or what their aim was. Earlier vandalism of Ukrainian Insurgent Army graves and memorials in Poland had also been reported in 2025 and 2026.