Zelenskyy accuses Nawrocki of playing politics after Poland revokes top order over UPA unit name

Trigger: UPA unit naming

On Friday 19 June, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced he was stripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration. The decision followed Zelenskyy's consent to name a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the 'Heroes of the UPA' (Ukrainian Insurgent Army), a formation whose wartime record includes mass killings of Polish civilians in Volhynia. Nawrocki said the move was 'not against the Ukrainian nation' and did not alter Poland's strategic support for Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Revocation and return

Zelenskyy responded on Saturday by sending the order back to Warsaw via the private courier company Nova Poshta, posting a photo of the parcel on social media. He wrote that the order had been addressed in 2023 to the Ukrainian nation and its army. Within hours, a string of senior Ukrainian figures announced they were renouncing their own Polish state awards, including Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha, head of the presidential office Kyrylo Budanow, his deputy Ihor Zhovkva, ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar, former prime minister Volodymyr Hroysman, and former presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko.

Zelenskyy's interview

In a Sunday evening interview with Ukrainian television channel TSN, Zelenskyy dismissed Nawrocki's move as domestic politicking.

“I see this solely as an electoral process. President Karol Nawrocki is fighting for his party's position against Prime Minister Donald Tusk. We have nothing to do with it, it's their internal matter.”

He drew a parallel with the former Hungarian premier, saying:

“This is the same thing Orbán did. It's a bad path. I think it will end badly.”

Zelenskyy also revealed that at their first meeting Nawrocki had given him a book about the Volhynia tragedy, a detail he had kept private until now.

“I came to him, and his gift to me upon greeting was a book about the Volhynia tragedy. I never spoke about it. I lived with it calmly. Now I'm speaking openly because he is taking actions I consider inappropriate.”

Polish reactions

Head of the Polish President's Chancellery Zbigniew Bogucki accused Ukrainian officials of ingratitude.

“Representatives of the Ukrainian authorities are giving up Polish decorations with a light hand, forgetting that those same hands were extended for help and that help came from Polish hands: from the Polish government, local governments, NGOs and millions of Poles.”

MP Jacek Sasin told Polsat News that 'Ukrainians have opted for conflict with Poland' and lack any gesture of de-escalation. Former deputy chief of the Polish General Staff, General Leon Komornicki, called the UPA unit naming a deliberate provocation designed to 'divide us, ridicule us and show us in the eyes of Europeans and the United States as an irresponsible and quarrelsome state.' Historian Professor Antoni Dudek blamed both presidents, saying:

“What is happening, I consider terrible mistakes by both Zelenskyy and Nawrocki. History will not forgive them. It will weigh on their biographies.”

Conference in doubt

Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on X that 'the conflict between Poland and Ukraine pleases Putin and shocks our allies' and urged both presidents to tone down emotions. Foreign Minister Sybiha said Zelenskyy had not yet decided whether to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) scheduled for 25–26 June in Gdańsk, while insisting Kyiv remained open to dialogue. The row has also stirred discontent among some Polish voters; one self-described former Civic Coalition supporter declared online that he would no longer vote for Tusk's party because it had sided with Zelenskyy in the dispute.