Zelenskiy returns Poland's highest honour after president revokes it over WWII history row

Roots of the dispute

The crisis began in late May when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy approved the request of a Ukrainian military unit to be named "Heroes of the UPA" (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). For many Ukrainians, the UPA symbolises resistance against Soviet domination after the Second World War. In Poland, the same force is remembered for massacres of up to 100,000 ethnic Poles in Volhynia between 1943 and 1945. The naming drew weeks of condemnation from Warsaw, especially from the nationalist right, and President Karol Nawrocki warned he would revoke Zelenskiy's highest Polish state honour if the decision was not reversed.

Revocation and public return

On Friday, Nawrocki announced the withdrawal of the Order of the White Eagle, which had been awarded to Zelenskiy in 2023 by his predecessor Andrzej Duda as a gesture of friendship during the Russian invasion.

“The threshold of pain of the Polish nation has been crossed.”

He stressed the move was not directed at the Ukrainian people and did not alter Polish security policy. The following day, Zelenskiy posted photos from a presidential office post room showing the insignia packed in a cardboard box addressed to Nawrocki, sent via the private courier Nova Poshta.

“If the view is that this special symbol may remain with Catherine II, Benito Mussolini and Gerhard Schröder, then we in Ukraine have nothing to argue.”

Wider fallout: former presidents join in

Three former Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroschenko, announced they would also return their Polish decorations. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and the head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Budanov, renounced their own Polish honours. Budanov called the revocation "a gift to the Moscow aggressor." Ex-president Poroschenko warned the diplomatic crisis must be "resolved without delay."

Moscow's reaction

Russia quickly seized on the rift.

“Finally.”

The former Russian president and deputy head of the security council, writing on X, accused Kyiv of proximity to Nazism and welcomed Nawrocki's decision. Ukrainian officials saw that as confirmation that the row benefits the Kremlin.

Openness to dialogue

Despite the theatrical return, Zelenskiy said Kyiv remains open to "all meaningful formats of cooperation" with Poland to avoid contradictory interpretations of the painful shared past. He expressed gratitude for Polish support since 2022. The tone left room for de-escalation even as both sides dug in over what Zelenskiy called the need for an "honest and equal" conversation about history.