Poland strips Zelensky of highest state honour over military unit named after WWII partisans

Escalation on the eve of a key summit

Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced on Friday evening that he is revoking the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state distinction, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The decision, conveyed in a video posted on X, comes just days before a high-level international reconstruction conference for Ukraine co-hosted by Poland and the EU in Gdańsk on 25–26 June.

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.

The award had been conferred on Zelensky in 2023 by Nawrocki's predecessor, Andrzej Duda, as a symbol of solidarity during Russia's full-scale invasion. Nawrocki insisted the revocation does not alter Poland's security policy: "I want to emphasise that my decision is not directed against the Ukrainian nation and does not change the strategic direction of Polish security policy."

The UPA controversy

The immediate trigger was Zelensky's move in late May to bestow the honorary title "Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) on the Separate Center "North" of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces. For Kyiv, the UPA symbolises resistance against Soviet domination and the fight for an independent Ukraine. For Warsaw, the same organisation is remembered for the 1943–1945 massacres of up to 100,000 Polish civilians in the Volhynia region, an atrocity Poland officially declared a genocide in 2016 and commemorates annually on 11 July. Polish armed groups retaliated with the killing of up to 15,000 Ukrainians in the same region.

Nawrocki described the Ukrainian decision as "outrageous, incomprehensible and deeply disappointing," adding that it "undermines the trust built up over the years and in recent months." He recalled that Poland opened its borders and homes to millions of Ukrainian refugees after 2022. "Ukraine's path toward European structures also requires a willingness to honestly confront the difficult chapters of its own history," he warned. "For those who do not understand this, there can be no place in the European Union, and Poland will certainly not allow it."

Kyiv's sharp reply

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha shot back, calling the Polish move a "strategic mistake" that "only Moscow will benefit from." He declared his intention to return the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, an award he received in October 2022. "No president of another country will dictate our history to us," Sybiha said, characterising the Polish decision as "unjustified, impulsive and disrespectful" toward the Ukrainian state.

We regret that emotions prevailed in Warsaw and prompted Polish politicians to take unjustified, impulsive and disrespectful steps — not so much toward President Zelensky, but above all toward the Ukrainian state.

Sybiha noted that Ukraine had been conducting search and exhumation work on its territory for the past year and a half, arguing that progress had been made on historical disputes. He called the current escalation "counterproductive and unnecessary."

Next steps

The revocation of the award requires the formal approval of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has not yet publicly commented on the decision. Tusk had earlier tried to defuse the row by saying Ukraine had shown "a lack of sensitivity." The timing risks casting a shadow over the 25–26 June Gdańsk conference, where Ukraine's reconstruction will be discussed with participants including the EU and the G7.