Polish President Karol Nawrocki Strips Volodymyr Zelensky of Top Honour Over UPA Unit Name
President Karol Nawrocki of Poland has revoked the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The action comes after Ukraine named a military unit in honour of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a paramilitary organisation active during the 1940s and 1950s. Nawrocki described Ukraine's decision as “outrageous”, “incomprehensible”, and “deeply disappointing”, while stressing that Poland's wider support for Ukraine against Russia would not be affected.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticised Warsaw's move as a “strategic mistake” and “disrespectful”. Sybiha stated he would return an award he received from Poland in 2022, asserting that “no president of another country will dictate our history to us.” Zelensky has not directly commented on the matter.
In Ukraine, the UPA is largely revered as a force that fought for national independence against Soviet, Nazi German, and Polish forces. Conversely, Poland accuses the UPA of carrying out a genocide of ethnic Poles in Volhynia between 1943 and 1945, with estimates suggesting approximately 100,000 Poles were killed. Nawrocki emphasised that for most Poles, the UPA remains synonymous with “brutal crimes committed against citizens of the Republic of Poland”.
The Polish President highlighted Poland's hospitality towards millions of Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He also linked Ukraine's aspirations for EU membership to a willingness to “honestly confront the difficult chapters of its own history,” adding that a “united Europe was built on the rejection of totalitarianism and the cult of violence.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has urged both Zelensky and Nawrocki to “calm emotions, not to stoke tensions,” noting that the dispute “delights” Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Order of the White Eagle was originally bestowed upon Zelensky in 2023 by then-President Andrzej Duda.
