Polish President Revokes Zelenskyy's White Eagle Honor Over WWII Unit Naming
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Poland's president withdrew Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle after a decree naming a unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, prompting criticism from Kyiv and concerns about Moscow's benefit.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced on Friday that he will strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration. The decision follows Zelenskyy’s May 26 decree naming a Special Operations Forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World-II era group accused by Poland of mass killings of Polish civilians.
Nawrocki said the UPA “remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II” and argued that revoking the honor does not alter Poland’s support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
Ukrainian officials condemned the move. Kyiv’s presidential office chief Kyrylo Budanov described it as “an unfriendly act toward our people” and a “gift to the Moscow aggressor.” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the revocation “a strategic mistake… that benefits only Moscow,” while ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said it was “especially painful” amid ongoing missile and drone attacks.
In response, several Ukrainian officials said they would return Polish state honors previously awarded to them. Former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned that one “harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours.”
Poland is set to host a conference on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged both leaders to “tone down emotions, not stoke tensions,” noting that the dispute “delights Putin and shocks our allies.”
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union but has been implicated in the killing of tens of thousands of Poles, a fact recognized by the Polish parliament in 2016 as genocide. Recent bilateral talks had signaled progress on historical reconciliation, including cooperation on exhumations of Polish victims.