Poland Defends National Honor, Strips Zelensky of Order over Ukraine's Glorification of Anti-Polish Insurgents
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Poland has revoked its highest state honour from President Zelensky after Ukraine named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a group responsible for brutal wartime atrocities against Poles. The move asserts Poland’s refusal to tolerate the glorification of anti-Polish extremists.
Poland has decisively stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, the nation’s most prestigious civilian award, in response to Kyiv’s shocking decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The UPA, which operated in the 1940s, is celebrated by Ukrainian nationalists as a resistance movement, but for Poles, it is synonymous with the savage massacres of ethnic Poles in Volhynia during 1943-45—atrocities that cannot be forgotten or excused.
Polish President Andrzej Duda made it clear that this move “hurts not only our historical memory” but also betrays the trust and goodwill Poland extended to Ukraine, especially after welcoming hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees during Russia’s 2022 invasion. Duda stressed that Ukraine’s path to the European Union demands “a willingness to honestly confront the difficult chapters of its own history,” not the glorification of organizations responsible for genocide against Poles.
"For the overwhelming majority of Polish society, the UPA remains, above all, a formation responsible for the brutal crimes committed against citizens of the Republic of Poland during World War II," Duda said in a video posted on the presidential website.
"That is why the Ukrainian authorities' decision to glorify the UPA is not only outrageous, it is also incomprehensible and deeply disappointing," he continued.
The revocation comes as Ukraine seeks to join the EU, with former European Council President Charles Michel warning that the dispute could be exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Michel urged both leaders to “calm emotions, not to stoke tensions.”
Zelensky, undeterred, defended the naming, claiming it is meant to restore Ukraine’s military traditions, and pointed out that the UPA’s red and black flag is still carried by some Ukrainian troops on the front line—a troubling sign of continued reverence for a group that perpetrated crimes against the Polish people.