Ukraine blasts Poland as Zelenskyy honor removed

Ukraine blasts – Ukrainian officials reacted sharply after Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he would strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, arguing the move plays into Moscow’s goals as fighting continues and missile and drone attacks hit Ukraine.

WARSAW — Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision landed with an edge on a day Ukraine can least afford another front in its relationship with an ally.

Ukrainian leaders, including the presidential office and the foreign ministry, condemned Nawrocki for stripping Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor, saying the revocation helps Moscow and deepens tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw.

Nawrocki announced on Friday that he will remove Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle over Zelenskyy’s decision to name a Ukrainian military unit after a paramilitary organization accused in Poland of massacring Poles during World War II.

The Polish president’s trigger was a decree Zelenskyy issued on May 26. naming a military unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. or UPA. which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused of mass killings. Nawrocki framed it as a matter of historical responsibility. saying that for the majority of Polish society. the UPA remains a formation responsible for cruel crimes against citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II.

In a 13-minute address posted on social media, Nawrocki said revoking the honor was “beneficial to Moscow,” and Ukrainian officials seized on that logic as their own starting point.

Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, wrote on Telegram that Nawrocki’s decision was “an unfriendly act toward our people” and “a gift to the Moscow aggressor, which will certainly use it against both of our countries.”

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it “a strategic mistake by the President of Poland, one that benefits only Moscow.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, said the decision was “especially painful” as Ukrainians continue to endure missile and drone attacks.

All three Ukrainian officials said they would return orders issued to them by the Polish state.

The honor itself was not new. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda had bestowed the Order of the White Eagle on Zelenskyy in 2023 for services to security, resilience and the defense of human rights.

Nawrocki argued that revoking the award would not mean Poland’s support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia would decrease. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki’s political rival, tried to cool the dispute, urging the two leaders to “calm emotions, not stoke tensions.”

Tusk wrote Friday night on social media that the conflict between Poland and Ukraine “delights Putin and shocks our allies,” adding that “the front line runs elsewhere.”

That argument met a separate defense from Zelenskyy’s side of the story. Zelenskyy’s May decree said the designation was meant to restore historical traditions of the national military and recognize the unit’s performance in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.

The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi German and Soviet forces. but it has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles. most in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognized the crimes committed by the UPA as genocide.

Ukraine’s officials have pointed out that Ukrainians say armed formations on both sides—including the UPA and Polish underground forces—were involved in attacks and reprisals that led to large-scale civilian casualties among Poles and Ukrainians.

The dispute also comes as both countries try to manage the memory of the past while coordinating on the present. Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction next week, with Zelenskyy expected to attend.

Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on exhumation of Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled momentum on historical reconciliation.

Still, as Ukrainian officials framed it, the latest step by Nawrocki threatens to sharpen a political rupture at a moment when Kyiv is bracing for ongoing bombardment and looking to keep its alliance with Poland steady.

Poland Karol Nawrocki Zelenskyy Order of the White Eagle Ukrainian Insurgent Army UPA Kyiv Warsaw Kyrylo Budanov Andrii Sybiha Vasyl Bodnar Donald Tusk history reconciliation postwar reconstruction