Poland's president moves to strip Zelensky of Order of the White Eagle, Tusk urges direct talks

The trigger: a unit named after UPA heroes

At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree naming one of the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces — the Independent Special Operations Centre "North" of the Special Operations Forces — after the "Heroes of the UPA." He said the decision was made "in order to restore the historical traditions of the national army and taking into account the exemplary performance of assigned tasks during the defence of the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine."

In Poland, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is remembered for the Volhynia massacres, and the move was met with sharp criticism. President Karol Nawrocki said Zelensky's decision "provided the best material and a great deal of oxygen to Russian propaganda" and assessed it "very critically."

The Chapter convenes in Jurata

On Monday 8 June, the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle met at the Presidential Residence on the Hel Peninsula in Jurata, a Baltic Sea resort. The session began at 10:00. Nawrocki had added the point on revoking Zelensky's order to the agenda, responding to an appeal from Confederation club chairman Grzegorz Płaczek and what he called "the appeal of the Polish nation."

I took very seriously the appeal of the Polish nation and MP Grzegorz Płaczek. On 8 June the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle will meet. I proposed that one of the items be the revocation of President Zelensky's Order of the White Eagle.

The order was conferred on Zelensky in 2023 by then-President Andrzej Duda.

Tusk's public appeal

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who initially called Nawrocki's initiative a "worrying step" and later described it as "understandable" after seeing opinion polls, posted on X on Monday morning. He addressed both presidents directly, saying diplomacy had produced no results and asking for a direct and honest conversation before emotions ruin the solidarity born in the face of the Russian threat.

Since diplomacy has brought no results, I turn publicly to Presidents Karol Nawrocki and Volodymyr Zelensky for a direct and honest conversation. Before emotions ruin our solidarity, which was born in the face of the Russian threat. Cooperation is in the interest of both our states and nations, and conflict is in Moscow's interest. That is probably obvious to all of us.

Commentators noted that Tusk's statement expressed nothing concrete and appeared designed to show activity on an issue that strongly interests Polish public opinion.

Sikorski invokes Gerhard Schroeder

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski weighed in on social media, drawing a comparison with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who received the Order of the White Eagle in 2002 from President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and later became closely tied to Russia.

I hope that after the decisions of the Chapter and President Karol Nawrocki, it will not be the case that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who takes money from Putin, remains a knight of the Order of the White Eagle, while the one who fights Putin is stripped of it.

Former Prime Minister Leszek Miller criticised Sikorski's argument, and Deputy Family Minister Sebastian Gajewski of the New Left said on TVP Info that revoking the order "would be firm but not wise," arguing that diplomatic measures are the most appropriate response.

Zelensky flies from Moldova instead of Rzeszów

On Sunday 7 June, Zelensky travelled to London for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. According to European Pravda and FlightAware data, his aircraft departed from Chișinău, Moldova, rather than from Rzeszów-Jasionka airport in Poland, which he had regularly used for international trips. The Ukrainian outlet linked the change to the sharpening of relations between the two countries.

Over the weekend, the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, General Kyrylo Budanov, was in Warsaw for talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, head of the Presidential International Policy Bureau Marcin Przydacz, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki and National Security Bureau chief Bartosz Grodecki.

The countersignature question

Any decision to revoke the order would require a countersignature from Prime Minister Tusk. Commentators on TVP Info noted that this places Tusk in a difficult position. Mariusz Piekarski said a decision was "maturing in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister that this countersignature may be forthcoming." Dr Mirosław Oczkoś observed that if Nawrocki's overriding goal is to topple Tusk's government, the situation puts the prime minister in a bind, while also noting that Confederation MEPs in Brussels were demanding the revocation of EU honours for Zelensky.

I would focus on the statement of Karol Nawrocki, who said there is no time for diplomacy. I think there is no diplomacy at all.