Poland revokes Zelenskyy's top honour after UPA unit naming, casting shadow over Gdańsk summit

Background of the dispute

The crisis began three weeks ago when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree naming a special operations unit after the "Heroes of UPA" (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). The UPA is a deeply sensitive subject in Poland due to the 1943-1945 massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Polish President Karol Nawrocki immediately warned of consequences, and his office says multiple attempts to contact the Ukrainian side went unanswered.

Revocation and response

On 19 June, Nawrocki made good on his warning, revoking Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state distinction. Zelenskyy responded by returning the order via courier; it arrived at the presidential chancellery in Warsaw on 22 June. Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz told TVN24 that the move was a matter of reciprocity.

We applied the principle of reciprocity. Since President Zelenskyy decided to name a military unit after the UPA, President Nawrocki revoked the Order of the White Eagle, and we end this matter here.

Leśkiewicz insisted the timing was right, coming exactly three weeks after Zelenskyy's decision, and that it would have no impact on the upcoming Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in Gdańsk. "Aid to Ukraine is something different than historical issues," he said.

Conference uncertainty

The conference, scheduled for 25-26 June in Gdańsk, was meant to gather world leaders, ministers, and investors to support Ukraine's post-war rebuilding. However, Zelenskyy's attendance is now in serious doubt. Former Polish ambassador to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki told RMF24 that the decision not to come was made before Nawrocki's order revocation.

According to my information, the decision not to come to Gdańsk was made before President Nawrocki decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle. Zelenskyy felt offended.

Cichocki added that Zelenskyy could face "difficult questions" in Poland and that "if a politician has nothing constructive to say, it's better to take a pause." Meanwhile, President Nawrocki himself was not invited to the conference; invitations were sent jointly by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Zelenskyy. Nawrocki's office called the exclusion "highly inappropriate."

Calls for de-escalation

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, who also returned his Polish state order in solidarity with Zelenskyy, appealed for calm. In a social media post, he stressed that Poland is a strategic neighbour and ally through which a huge portion of Ukraine's supplies, including weapons, transit.

We all need to calm down. The challenges facing Ukraine require a healthy, reasonable, professional and state approach.

Poroshenko called for transparency in communication, rebuilding trust, and ensuring a constructive atmosphere at the Gdańsk conference. He noted that during his presidency, Poland was Ukraine's main European and Euro-Atlantic advocate.

Diplomatic fallout

Cichocki criticised both sides for poor communication, saying the conflict could have been defused earlier behind closed doors. He warned that the identity-politics clash "will cast a shadow for years." Other former Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, also returned their Polish orders. Despite the tensions, Leśkiewicz maintained that the order revocation does not affect Poland's material support for Ukraine's war effort.