A move to strip President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of one of Poland’s highest honors has drawn sharp criticism from Ukrainian officials.
Warsaw, Poland (AP) – A the decision of the Polish president to undress Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy Poland’s highest state honor was useful to Moscow, which has an interest in seeing Kiev in conflict with its allies, Ukrainian officials said.
President Karol Nawrocki announced Friday that he will strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II.
Former Polish President Andrzej Duda awarded Zelenskyy the prize in 2023 for services to security, sustainability and the protection of human rights.
Zelenskyy issued a decree on May 26 naming a military unit of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused in Poland of mass murder.
“For the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains above all a formation responsible for atrocious crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II,” Nawrocki said in a 13-minute speech on social media.
The decision to drop the honor does not mean that Poland’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia would diminish, Nawrocki said.
Ukraine’s decision was met with widespread criticism in Poland. However, Nawrocki is one nationalist politician who has exploited anti-Ukrainian sentiment for electoral gains. Ukrainians in Poland have faced increasing prejudice regardless of their contribution to the economy.
The head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov, wrote in Telegram that Nawrocki’s decision was “an unfriendly act towards our people” and “a gift to the Moscow aggressor, who will surely use it against both our countries.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the step “a strategic mistake by the President of Poland, which only benefits Moscow.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar said the decision was “particularly painful” as Ukrainians battle missile and drone attacks.
The three Ukrainian officials, as well as Budanov’s deputy, Ihor Zhovkva, said they would return the state honors Poland had given them. Some have criticized Ukraine’s response.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the former prime minister of Ukraine, wrote on Saturday X that a “harmful and incorrect decision of the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours”.
Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged the two leaders to “reduce emotions, not raise tensions”.
“The front line goes elsewhere,” Tusk wrote on social media Friday night, adding that the conflict between Poland and Ukraine “pleases Putin and shocks our allies.”
Zelenskyy’s May decree said the designation was intended to restore the national army’s historical traditions and recognize the unit’s performance in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. But she has been accused 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 the UPA as genocide.
Ukrainians say armed formations from both sides, including the UPA and Polish underground forces, engaged in attacks and reprisals that led to large-scale civilian casualties among Poles and Ukrainians.
Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on the issue of the exhumation of the Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled progress in the historic reconciliation.
By CLAUDIA CIOBANU and VOLODYMYR YURCHUK Associated Press
Yurchuk reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
Subscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing arguments provides the latest on ongoing trials, major litigation and decisions in courts around the US and the world, while monthly Under the lights feeds legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
