Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited European leaders to come to Kyiv on May 9 to demonstrate the unity of the European Union. On this day, a traditional military parade is held in Moscow. Aleksei Belyaev, the dean of the journalism faculty at Belarusian State University, called this invitation from Kyiv offensive during a broadcast on Alpha Radio and SB TV on April 16, 2025. He compared it to the event in Poland commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in January, which was held without the participation of Belarusian and Russian delegations.
"The Auschwitz-Oswiecim event did not invite either Russia or Belarus, nor did it invite representatives from Israel, who were among the victims. Representatives from Russia and Belarus, as successors to the Soviet Union, who were liberators, were not invited. Instead, they invited Germans — leaders of the German state, who were the founders and chief tormentors. They also invited representatives from the Ukrainian and Polish sides, who served as guards there," listed the dean of the journalism faculty.
The Russian Federation was indeed not invited to the events in Poland; it was deemed that extending an invitation during the war against Ukraine would appear cynical. However, private individuals and independent representatives were not prohibited from visiting the memorial. The WTF team found no official mentions of an invitation or its absence for representatives from Belarus.
An Israeli representative was present at the event—Education Minister Yoav Kisch. There were complications with the arrival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Poland is obligated to enforce this decision.
The museum located at the Auschwitz concentration camp site presents different information about the Ukrainians and Poles who, according to Belyaev, served as guards at the camp. Its website states: "Initially, the garrison consisted of Germans from the Reich territory. Over time, they began recruiting ethnic Germans from satellite states and occupied countries; in terms of numbers, they arrived from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Estonia. No attempts to organize non-German guard units were successful. The creation of a Ukrainian guard company (8-U-Kompanie) was indeed undertaken in March 1943. When the Ukrainians discovered the true function of the camp in July 1943, they deserted."
A publicly accessible database lists those who served in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp garrison. Over the five years of Auschwitz-Birkenau's operation, about 8,000 people served there. https://truthaboutcamps.eu/th/form/r4117425758,AFONIN.htmlMost had German surnames, but there were also citizens from Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia.
