Poland’s president announced Friday his intention to have a state advisory body consider removing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s highest Polish decoration following Ukraine’s controversial decision to honor nationalist fighters connected to wartime atrocities against Poles.
The diplomatic tension arose after Zelenskiy signed an order recognizing a Ukrainian special forces unit’s battlefield contributions against Russian forces by designating it with the name of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known as UPA.
While Poland has remained one of Ukraine’s strongest allies throughout Russia’s ongoing invasion, this particular move has sparked outrage due to the UPA’s dark historical legacy. The nationalist group participated in the Volhynia massacres between 1943 and 1945, during which Polish authorities say approximately 100,000 Polish civilians were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. The violence also resulted in thousands of Ukrainian deaths through retaliatory attacks.
“Glorifying the UPA has provided Russian propaganda with ample oxygen for disinformation,” Nawrocki told reporters in Warsaw on Friday.
The president emphasized that backing Ukraine against Russian aggression remains a crucial strategic objective for Poland. However, he announced that the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle, the advisory council responsible for overseeing Poland’s most prestigious and historic state award, will convene on June 8.
“I proposed that one of the items on the agenda be the revocation of President Zelenskiy’s Order of the White Eagle,” he stated, noting that “certain mechanisms” including a Chapter meeting were required before making any final determination.
Nawrocki, a conservative nationalist who has drawn inspiration from U.S. President Donald Trump, has appealed to growing fatigue among some Polish citizens regarding the substantial Ukrainian refugee population in their country. During his electoral campaign, he pledged to prioritize “Poles first.”
Poland’s foreign ministry expressed its disapproval on social media Friday, stating that redesignating the Ukrainian military unit after the UPA “wounds the memory of the victims of that organisation and strikes at the dialogue between our nations.”
When asked about Nawrocki’s statements, a representative for the Ukrainian presidency chose not to provide direct commentary.
“We’re just thankful to Poland for all the support and we hope that our independence, and Poland’s, will remain strong despite all the Russian attempts to kill it,” the spokesperson said.
For many Ukrainians, the UPA represents heroic resistance fighters who battled both Soviet and Nazi occupying forces, serving as symbols of their nation’s struggle for independence from Moscow’s control.
Zelenskiy was awarded the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 by former President Andrzej Duda in acknowledgment of his efforts to strengthen bilateral relations, promote democracy, maintain peace and security across Europe, and demonstrate “steadfastness in defending inalienable human rights.”
