Poland's president revokes highest state honor awarded to Ukraine's Zelenskyy over World War II dispute
Baku, June 20, AZERTAC
Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Friday revoked the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, that had been awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Anadolu Agency reported.
The decision follows outrage in Poland over Kyiv's recent move to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a nationalist formation that Polish historians and officials hold responsible for the mass killing of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II.
In a statement, Nawrocki stressed that the move was directed at the Ukrainian government's actions rather than the Ukrainian people and insisted it did not signal any change in Poland's strategic support for Ukraine.
"I want to emphasize that this decision is not against the Ukrainian nation. It does not change the strategic direction of Poland's security policy," Nawrocki said. "We have supported and continue to support Ukraine because we know that Russian aggression poses a threat to Poland and all of Europe."
Earlier this month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior said the naming decision "hurts the memory of the victims" and undermines efforts at historical reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine. Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz also described the issue as deeply troubling, arguing that lasting partnership requires honesty about the past.
The UPA remains one of the most contentious issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations. While many Ukrainians view the group as part of the struggle for independence against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Poland regards the massacres of 1943-44 as an act of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Poland is one of Kyiv's strongest military, political and humanitarian supporters, receiving millions of Ukrainian refugees and serving as a key logistics hub for Western military aid.
However, tensions have periodically resurfaced over agricultural imports, exhumations of Polish victims in western Ukraine, and competing interpretations of wartime history.
The Order of the White Eagle is Poland's oldest and most prestigious state distinction. Previous recipients have included heads of state, military leaders, and figures considered to have made exceptional contributions to Poland.
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