Zelenskyy returns Poland's top honour after UPA row strains wartime ties

Zelenskyy returned Poland's highest honour after Warsaw revoked it over a UPA-linked unit name. The spat reopens painful wartime history even as both sides seek to preserve support against Russia.

In Short

• Nawrocki said revoking the order would not weaken Poland's backing for Kyiv
• The UPA remains deeply contentious in Poland over wartime massacres of Poles
• Four Ukrainian officials also planned to return Polish state honours in protest

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has returned Poland's highest state honour after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped him of the award, reviving a sensitive dispute over World War II history.

The dispute followed Zelenskyy's decision to name a unit of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, a wartime organisation accused in Poland of massacring Poles. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians believed the order "was meant for the Ukrainian People and our army". "Today, I sent the Order back to the President of Poland. I believe the future will confirm the respect Ukrainians deserve," he wrote.

Zelenskyy's message was accompanied by photos of the Polish order and a postal receipt showing it was about to be mailed to the Polish presidential office. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda had awarded him the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 for services to security, resilience and the defence of human rights.

On May 26, Zelenskyy issued a decree naming a military unit after the UPA, which operated in the 1940s and 1950s. Nawrocki said in a 13-minute address on social media that, "For the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II." He also said revoking the honour would not reduce Poland's support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia.

The Ukrainian decree drew widespread criticism in Poland, which has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees and remains a key supporter of Kyiv. In his post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was grateful to Poland for its support and would remain open to resolving historical differences. "I am proud of our people and of EVERY Ukrainian warrior," he wrote.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, said on Telegram that Nawrocki's decision was "an unfriendly act toward our people" and "a gift to the Moscow aggressor, which will certainly use it against both of our countries". Four Ukrainian officials, including Budanov, said they would return state honours issued to them by Poland.

Some in Ukraine criticised the decision to return the Polish honours. Former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk wrote on X that one "harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours".

Poland is due to host a major event on Ukraine's postwar reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged the two leaders to "tone down emotions, not stoke tensions". "The front line runs elsewhere," Tusk wrote on social media on Friday night, adding that the row between Poland and Ukraine "delights Putin and shocks our allies".

Zelenskyy's May decree said the new designation was meant to restore military traditions and recognise the unit's role in defending Ukraine's territorial integrity and independence. The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces, but it has also been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles, mainly in Nazi-occupied Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognised the crimes committed by the UPA as genocide. Ukrainians say armed formations on both sides, including the UPA and Polish underground forces, were involved in attacks and reprisals that caused large-scale civilian casualties among both Poles and Ukrainians.

Poland and Ukraine have recently made progress on the issue of exhuming Polish victims, and a meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw in December had signalled movement on historical reconciliation. The latest dispute has reopened those old differences, even as both sides say they want to keep working through them.

With PTI Inputs

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