Ukraine slams Polish president's move to strip Zelenskyy of top honour

Ukrainian officials have criticised Polish President Karol Nawrocki's decision to strip President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland's highest state honour, saying the move benefits Moscow by creating friction between Kyiv and its allies.

Nawrocki announced on Friday that he would revoke Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader's decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a wartime nationalist organisation accused in Poland of massacring Polish civilians during World War II.

Former Polish President Andrzej Duda had awarded the honour to Zelenskyy in 2023 in recognition of his services to security, resilience and the defence of human rights.

Zelenskyy issued a decree on 26 May naming a unit of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces after the UPA, which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and remains a deeply divisive historical symbol in Poland.

“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,” Nawrocki said in a social media address.

He, however, stressed that the decision would not reduce Poland's support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia.

The move triggered a strong reaction in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Presidential Office chief Kyrylo Budanov described the decision as “an unfriendly act toward our people” and “a gift to the Moscow aggressor, which will certainly use it against both of our countries.”

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the step “a strategic mistake by the President of Poland, one that benefits only Moscow.”

Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, said the decision was “especially painful” at a time when Ukrainians continue to face Russian missile and drone attacks.

Budanov, Sybiha, Bodnar and Deputy Presidential Office chief Ihor Zhovkva also announced plans to return state honours previously awarded to them by Poland.

However, some Ukrainian figures questioned that response. 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.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged both sides to lower tensions.

“The front line runs elsewhere,” Tusk wrote on social media, warning that conflict between Poland and Ukraine “delights Putin and shocks our allies.”

The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. However, it has long been accused in Poland of killing tens of thousands of Poles, particularly in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognised those killings as genocide.

Ukrainian historians maintain that armed formations on both sides, including the UPA and Polish underground groups, were involved in attacks and reprisals that caused heavy civilian casualties among both Poles and Ukrainians.

The dispute comes despite recent progress in efforts at historical reconciliation. Poland and Ukraine have cooperated on the exhumation of Polish victims, while a meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw last December was seen as a positive step towards addressing historical grievances.

The row has emerged just days before Poland hosts a major conference on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend.