Poland strips Zelensky of top honour over WW2 dispute

Poland's president has decided to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the country's top honour after the Ukrainian president caused ⁠outrage by renaming an army unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), nationalists who massacred Poles during World War Two.

President Karol Nawrocki's decision looked likely to unleash a severe diplomatic crisis between the neighbours just days ahead of a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk.

"In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to nameone of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Heroes of theUPA,"... I have decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from the President of Ukraine," Mr Nawrocki said in a statement.

"At this point, I would like to emphasise: this decision is not directed against the Ukrainian people. It does not signify a change in the strategic direction of Polish security policy."

There was no immediate comment from Mr Zelensky's office.

While Warsaw is a ‌strong supporter of Kyiv's war effort, public sentiment towards ⁠Ukraine has become more and more negative in recent years due to weariness with refugees, disputes over grain imports and the legacy of the World War Two massacres.

Ukrainian officials to return awards received from Poland

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the decision a "strategic error".

"We regret that instead of looking for solutions, the Polish side decided to escalate this conflict to an unacceptable and inappropriate level," he wrote on Facebook.

"No president of another country is going to dictate our history to us."

Mr Sybiga said yesterday that he planned to return an award he received from Poland in 2022 after the "unjustified, impulsive and disrespectful" decision.

Today, Mr Zelensky's top aide and Ukraine's ambassador to Warsaw followed Foreign Mr Sybiha in saying they were relinquishing awards bestowed by Poland as a way of showing solidarity with the president.

They argued the move by Mr Nawrocki benefitted Russia.

"This is a gift to the Moscow aggressor, who will certainly use it against both of our countries," Zelensky aide Kyrylo Budanov said on social media.

He said he was returning the Gold Officer's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Warsaw Vasyl Bodnar said on Saturday he was relinquishing his Knight's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit, describing Mr Nawrocki's move as a "gesture directed at the entire Ukrainian people".

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political opponent of Mr Nawrocki ‌who had sought to defuse the dispute, called for both presidents to cool emotions late yesterday.

"The conflict between Poland and Ukraine delights Putin and shocks our allies. The task of Presidents Zelensky and Nawrocki is ⁠to calm emotions, not to stoke tensions. The front line runs elsewhere," he wrote in a post on X.

Former ‌president Andrzej Duda awarded Mr Zelensky the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 in recognition of his ⁠contributions to bilateral relations, democracy, ‌peace and security in Europe and for "steadfastness in defending inalienable human rights".

But Mr Nawrocki said in May that an advisory council should consider stripping Mr Zelensky of the honour after he signed a decree recognising a Ukrainian special forces unit's contribution to the fight against Russian forces by naming it after the UPA.

The decision caused outrage across the political spectrum in Poland. ⁠Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa said he would no longer wear a badge with the Ukrainian flag and while he still ⁠supported the nation in its fight against Russia he would not support Mr Zelensky.

Some Ukrainians regard the UPA as heroes for the resistance they mounted against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and as symbols of Kyiv's struggle for independence from Moscow.

But the UPA was also involved in the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings from 1943 to 1945 in which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists.

Thousands of Ukrainians also died in reprisal killings.

Kyiv had previously said that the name had been chosen by soldiers who wanted to commemorate the UPA's fight ‌against Moscow and who had no intention of offending Poland.