Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to strip Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor has triggered fresh tension between Kyiv and Warsaw, with Ukrainian officials saying the move benefits Moscow and lands hardest on people already living under missile and drone attacks.
Who Holds the Medal, Who Pays the Price
Ukrainian Presidential Office chief Kyrylo Budanov 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 the step 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 battle missile and drone attacks. The three Ukrainian officials, as well as Budanov’s deputy, Ihor Zhovkva, said they would return state honors that Poland had issued them.
The dispute centers on Nawrocki’s Friday announcement that he would strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, which former Polish President Andrzej Duda bestowed on Zelenskyy in 2023 for services to security, resilience and the defense of human rights. Nawrocki tied the revocation to Zelenskyy’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, a formation accused in Poland of massacring Poles during World War II.
What the State Says History Means
In a 13-minute address on social media, Nawrocki said that 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. He said the decision to revoke the honor did not mean Poland’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia would decrease.
Zelenskyy issued a decree on May 26 naming a military unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. His decree said the designation was meant to restore the 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 Germany and Soviet forces.
But the same formation has been accused in Poland 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 UPA as genocide. 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.
Reconciliation, Then Another Round of Elite Theater
Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on the issue of exhumation of Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled progress on historical reconciliation. That fragile process now sits under the same top-down political machinery that keeps turning memory into a weapon and ordinary people into collateral damage.
Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged the two leaders to tone down emotions, not stoke tensions. The front line runs elsewhere, Tusk wrote on social media Friday night, adding that the conflict between Poland and Ukraine delights Putin and shocks our allies.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s former prime minister, wrote on X Saturday that one harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours. That exchange captures the familiar choreography of statecraft: honors granted from above, honors revoked from above, and the people below left to absorb the fallout while officials argue over symbols, legitimacy, and who gets to define history.
For now, the dispute has widened the gap between two governments that have both claimed to stand against Russian aggression, even as their own institutions keep dragging old wounds back into the present. The immediate result is not reconciliation, but another round of managed outrage, diplomatic retaliation, and public statements from the same political class that keeps deciding what counts as memory, loyalty and honor.