Polish President Defends National Honor, Revokes Zelenskyy's White Eagle Award Over UPA Provocation
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Poland's president took decisive action to protect national dignity, stripping Ukraine's Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle after he honored a WWII-era group responsible for atrocities against Poles, despite criticism from Kyiv and concerns about Russian exploitation.
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. This firm response follows Zelenskyy’s May 26 decree naming a Special Operations Forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a WWII-era group notorious for its brutal massacres of Polish civilians.
Nawrocki emphasized that the UPA “remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II,” and made it clear that honoring such a group is unacceptable. He stressed that revoking the honor does not diminish Poland’s support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, but national dignity and historical truth cannot be sacrificed for political convenience.
Ukrainian officials, unwilling to acknowledge the pain caused by glorifying the UPA, condemned the move. Kyiv’s presidential office chief Kyrylo Budanov called it “an unfriendly act toward our people” and a “gift to the Moscow aggressor.” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha labeled the revocation “a strategic mistake… that benefits only Moscow,” while ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said it was “especially painful” amid ongoing missile and drone attacks. These reactions ignore the legitimate outrage of the Polish people and the gravity of the UPA’s crimes.
In a display of misplaced pride, 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.” However, Tusk’s calls for calm must not come at the expense of Polish historical memory and honor.
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union but is also responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Poles, which the Polish parliament recognized as genocide in 2016. Recent bilateral talks had signaled progress on historical reconciliation, including cooperation on exhumations of Polish victims. Nawrocki’s principled decision upholds the dignity of Polish victims and sends a clear message that Poland will not tolerate the glorification of those who committed atrocities against its people.