Zelensky returns Poland’s top honor amid UPA row

Zelensky returns – Volodymyr Zelensky sent Poland’s Order of the White Eagle back to President Karol Nawrocki after Nawrocki stripped him of the award over Zelensky’s May 26 decree naming a Ukrainian Special Operations unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, accused in Poland o

Warsaw, Poland — Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t just respond. He acted.

On social media. the Ukrainian leader posted photos of Poland’s Order of the White Eagle and a postal receipt showing it was being sent back to the Polish presidential office. “Today, I sent the Order back to the President of Poland,” Zelensky wrote. “I believe the future will confirm the respect Ukrainians deserve.” He added that the order was “meant for the Ukrainian People and our army.”.

The gesture came after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the award in a dispute that has flared again over World War II history — a controversy now entangled with present-day politics and the fragile reality of wartime alliance.

Nawrocki removed the honor because of Zelensky’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. known as the UPA. Nawrocki pointed to accusations that the UPA massacred Poles during WWII. In a 13-minute address posted on social media. Nawrocki said: “For the majority of Polish society. the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II.”.

The award had not always been controversial. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda bestowed the Order of the White Eagle on Zelensky in 2023 for services to security, resilience and the defense of human rights.

But Zelensky’s May 26 decree reignited the dispute. The decree named a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the UPA, an organization that operated during the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused in Poland of mass killings.

That decision landed in a Poland already strained by the war next door. Poland has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees and is a key supporter of Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s four-year invasion. Even so. Nawrocki is a nationalist politician. and the row has been sharpened by his willingness to exploit anti-Ukrainian sentiment for electoral gain. Ukrainians in Poland have faced increasing prejudice despite their contribution to the economy.

Polish officials insist the honor revocation does not mean a shift in the support Kyiv depends on. Nawrocki said the decision to revoke the honor did not mean Poland’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia would decrease.

Zelensky’s message on Saturday framed his return of the medal as a refusal to accept the argument that Ukrainians should pay for the past with their present dignity. Ukraine is grateful to Poland for its support, he wrote, and would stay open to resolve historical differences with Poland. “I am proud of our people and of EVERY Ukrainian warrior.”.

The pushback didn’t come only from outside Poland. 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.”

Budanov’s position was echoed by others inside Ukraine: four Ukrainian officials. including Budanov. said they would return state honors that Poland had issued them. Yet the response inside Ukraine was not unanimous. Some criticized the choice to return Polish honors. Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Ukraine’s former prime minister. wrote on X that one “harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours.”.

The wider dispute sits on a foundation of competing national narratives about WWII. Poland and Ukraine have both described UPA and other armed formations differently. but the claims at the center of this fight are stark. The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. Poland has accused the group of killing tens of thousands of Poles. mostly in Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognized the crimes committed by UPA as genocide.

Ukrainians, meanwhile, 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.

Even so, there had been signs of movement. Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on exhumation of Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled progress on historical reconciliation.

The tension now risks colliding with next week’s calendar. Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction next week, and Zelensky was expected to attend.

Polish politics also adds pressure from within. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — a political rival of Nawrocki — urged the two leaders to “tone down emotions. not stoke tensions.” Tusk wrote on social media Friday night that the row between Poland and Ukraine “delights Putin and shocks our allies.”.

Zelensky’s May decree described the designation of the Special Operations unit as meant to restore military traditions and recognize the unit’s performance in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.

Between the award photo now traveling back by post and the accusations on both sides of wartime bloodshed, the conflict is no longer only about history. It’s about what kind of unity wartime Europe is willing to bargain for — and what price leaders are asking their people to pay for it.

Zelensky Poland Order of the White Eagle Karol Nawrocki Donald Tusk Volhynia Eastern Galicia UPA Special Operations Forces World War II history Ukrainian refugees Budanov Andrzej Duda Arseniy Yatsenyuk